Your Idea Sucks

The economy while slowly on the rebound is not by any means recovered. However, this hasn't started the slew of start-ups that inevitably occur as the result of a downturn. Mainly started by laid off workers or people who see a hole in the market some of these start ups should eventually carry us out of the current recession. Here's the keyword in that sentence: "some". A start-up launched today has 32% survival rate after 8 years. That's scary for any entrepreneur to hear and I don' t want this post to serve as more gloom and doom. I just want to tell you why your idea sucks.

1. If your start-up was so amazing, why didn't you start on this path sooner? Great first question to ask yourself. Why didn't you take the leap while you were still secure in your other job? If the answer is "I didn't think it was good enough." Then you might as well continue looking for another job. You can't build a start up around a desperate idea. It's almost always going to fail.

2. Do you know the industry? Or have you hired someone that does? You don't want to go into any industry blind. Your plan/idea should clearly identify a hole in the market and exploit it. Utilize an expert or acclimate yourself to the industry. Failure to this could be catastrophic.

3. For Web-Start ups: Can your site be widgetized? Does it need its own platform? This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Why should you build a destination based site when you are trying to create something that would be a fantastic supplement? It just doesn't make any sense. You should never try and improve on something that doesn't need to be improved upon. The only defense I've heard for this? Privacy concerns. Fail.

4. Can you market it? Most non-marketers don't think this way. However, as a marketer I look at a product and I can tell you within 10 minutes whether it has a chance at succeeding or failing. I can tell you in two minutes if you are going to fail.

5. Is your idea a need or a want? Think seriously on this one and ask a variety of different people (who won't steal your idea) their opinion. Can you survive? Does your idea hold water?

Made it through that gauntlet? Congratulations, we might actually hear from you again. If not, it's time to go back to the drawing board or start looking for employment. Can you think of any others?

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