How to Make Sure Your Ideas Don't Suck
After about three months of trying to figure out my life, I came up with an idea.
I’m no stranger to ideas, and I’m pretty sure I throw away million dollar ideas daily (just scroll through my texts to myself…”Hey Siri, text Zach Horvath”)
But success isn’t in the idea, it’s in the execution, the details, the consistency.
This idea has been around for awhile and if you ask my sister, she’d emphasize that she’s told me at least a dozen times to make this happen.
But as the flow goes, opportunity is so much about timing and alignment.
And the timing and alignment just hit on this one…. maybe.
To turn that “maybe” into an “absolutely hell yes” there’s some steps to take, all of which I’ve been working on for this new idea that’s coming out soon. If you want to talk about it, let me know.
Here’s 3 steps to make sure your ideas don’t suck before pouring in tons of work and energy into something that will fail.
Step 1: Does it exist?
The answer to this is almost always “yes”.
People allllllllll the time tell me, “This is a great idea, no one is doing this” but that’s just not true.
Sorry to burst your bubble but you’re not that original.
Your idea is maybe 3% original and most likely there’s tons of veryyy similar ideas out there.
This is a good thing.
Find the similar projects and break them apart. Figure out why they didn’t / aren’t working. Research their tactics and strategies. Talk to the people who started them! Dive deep into your competitors.
Step 2: Break Your Idea
Sweet, you have this idea that might be good! You’re excited, you see the opportunity, you see the riches pouring in from your success.
But what about the downside? Where are the weak spots? Where do your strengths end and where will your weaknesses screw everything up?
Don’t be blinded by the upside: investigate the downside.
Step 3: Sell It ASAP
Your idea is nothing without it selling.
You have to test it as soon as possible.
The worst thing you can do is spend alllllll this time behind closed doors building an idea, thinking it’s going to fly, pouring in bloodsweatandtears only to launch and figure out no one will buy it.
Trust me, I’ve done this so many times and I would hate for you to do the same thing.
So hit the phones and start talking to people with “Validation Calls”.
Talk to your ideal target audience to figure out what problem they're experiencing that your product will solve.
Listen to their responses and the words they use to describe their pain points.
At what point do they get excited about what you’re telling them?
Where’s the common denominator for all the calls.
Most likely these are your friends or acquaintances so they will nice to you, so take that into account. They’ll sugar coat their answers not to hurt your feelings.
Try to go as far outside your bubble as possible so people will give it to you straight.
And get them to pay you. Even if it’s a presale.
Ask for a Venmo and tell them to put their money where their mouth is.
Until you get that, you don’t know if it’s actually worth it.
Story Time
I had this idea driving home one night.
“I love meeting people and having meaningful conversations, especially about our businesses. I’m always bringing people together, connecting friends and organizing events to foster these interactions… what if I did it digitally?”
If I can get a few entrepreneurs together in a room to talk about what they're going through, the group feedback will most likely create solutions to problems, reveal blind spots and create new relationships.
…enough for people to pay for it?
I think so.
And people can do it from their house, no need to commute, meaning it’s efficient. And people will connect with new people, which is always a fun thing.
How much would they pay for it? I had a number in my mind.
I knew the first thing I needed to do: call people.
So I get back to my house and start dialing.
I ended up talking to about four people that night for close to an hour and a half, sharing the idea, asking for ideas and asking them to venmo me.
Here’s what happened:
I got so many ideas about how to make my idea better. People shared other things like this, variations they’ve been apart of before, in person similar activities. It was free product development.
I validated the idea. People said they were down.
“How much?” People told me it was worth about 2x-3x more than my original cost.
No one Venmo-ed, even though I asked each of the four people.
I ended up doing under the name of “Entrepreneurship-ing”. It worked out to be two separate calls with a total of about 12 people, each paying $25 dollars…
And I’m thinking about doing it again… interested?
