Just Start

Just start.  Enough of the business plans, the market research, the oversampling of advice from others. Just start the business.

Over coffee this week, I met with (another) would be entrepreneur who is considering starting a new venture. Most of the questions she had revolved around, “Do you think my idea is a good one?”.  Like most of us, we seek reinforcement and validation of our ideas by others.  It gives us comfort.  Comfort, before committing risk capital and time.

However, the question is not really relevant.  Everyone has an opinion.  But no one can predict the future success or failure of a new business venture.  Venture capitalists do well to predict the success of new ventures 20% of the time.

So what to do?  Start the venture.  Start as small as possible.  Use microscopic amounts of capital.  Go with your best interpretation of your idea.  Get a prototype in front of customers.  Try to make a sale.  Ask the customers what they like, how would they improve it.  Refine it.  Sell some more.  Morph it.

The business that lives on will rarely look like the business in the original business plan. Customers will take the business in new and profitable directions.  Stop suffering.  Stop planning.  Get started!

To your success,

Scott