I love working with entrepreneurs. Rarely do you find an individual with more drive, committment, desire to succeed, and passion to change the world than an entrepreneur. Their ideas make our world a better place (for the most part). However, ideas are just the beginning. Ideas without the other key elements of the start-up system will eventually dissolve and leave very little behind except empty entrepreneur bank accounts.
The main element toward validating your idea is what I term the "wallet test." You can have a spectacular business plan with charts, graphs, laser light show with fog machine, and in-depth financial projections, but until someone actually takes money out of their wallet and puts it into yours in exchange for your product or service, all you have is an idea.
So, "Joe, what is your point?" My point is that customers don't BUY new ideas from start-ups; the new ideas have to be SOLD to them. Be sure that along with the myriad of other activities that you have to perform to get your business up and running that you remember to be generating demand. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of waiting until everything is perfect to begin selling. Don't wait! Talk to everyone about your idea and how your new product will create value for people. (Incidentally, I have a free business report about creating value for customers at http://www.startupsmart.net/. It's in the big yellow box...you can't miss it. And, I'll know if you go get it or not because I use Google Analytics)
I hope this is making sense. I'm wrestling with the keyboard today. Perhaps it's time to make myself a blended salad.
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