27/06/2024
Critiquing Business Ideas
Anyone who knows me, even just a little, will probably know just how much I love entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. In my world of fantasy, everyone could be an entrepreneur. However, experience has taught me that, for many reasons, this is not realistic. So, I am now just content helping the entrepreneurs I can find and encouraging those who may want to join the tribe.
However, of late, I have begun to come across disturbing attitudes among those who are just starting to venture into entrepreneurship, especially those at ideation stage. These are entrepreneurs who are still formulating their business idea and trying to create a real business out of it. I usually meet these entrepreneurs in events where I speak and sometimes on social media. Typically, someone would approach me and share their idea and seek for advice on how to build a successful business out of it.
My approach is to turn the idea inside out and upside down. I pull at it and watch if it will tear. I squeeze it and see if it would burst. I shake it and see if anything falls out. I basically stress-test the idea so that we could see where the obvious weak points could be and then the entrepreneur can try to work on those. Once those are addressed, the idea can then be tested in the market place and the entrepreneur can get feedback from clients. Sometimes, the reason why we want to pressure test the idea is not even to solve the challenges before the entrepreneur can test the idea in the marketplace. It is just to help the entrepreneur to realise where the blind spots and weaknesses might be in their idea. I believe it is better to go into a fight knowing that your left punch is weak. That way, when you get an opening, you will not try to score a knockout with your weak left hand. You’ll swing with your right! I just think it is better to anticipate what challenges you might face than for your challenges to surprise you on game day.
Anyways, so usually when you point out some flaws in business ideas that entrepreneurs have, some tend to think you are attacking the business, or even worse, attacking them personally. Usually, I tend to think that most business ideas can work, the challenge is usually getting the right business model that can work for your market. In pointing out where the pitfalls could be, mentors are only trying to steer you towards a direction they think would be more sustainable. Also, when I tell you about similar business that have failed, am only challenging you to think of implementing the idea differently from your predecessors. I am not implying that you are bound to fail simply because others failed before you. Am literally trying to help you to move in the opposite direction from failure.
Also, entrepreneurs tend to get demotivated when they come with a business idea, they believe is unique and I tell them that I know of at least a few people who have tried the same thing or who are doing it at the moment. For some reason, entrepreneurs want to believe that their ideas are special and they are the first to come up with them. In most cases they are not the first and the ideas have been around for a while. However, entrepreneurs fail to realise that as a matter of fact, to even be an entrepreneur, you already are a special case. Some might even say you have to be a nut case to be an entrepreneur. I might not be that unkind in my words, but I agree that no entrepreneur and innovator can make progress without crossing that line of sanity from time to time. So, in order for your idea to be valid, it does not have to be unique. You are the one that has to be unique, and you already are.
The other issue I have come to find, is that some startup entrepreneurs seem to come to the game with a mindset that society has to support them. This is probably the most unrealistic, unsustainable and misguided notion in the whole world of business. This is simply because regular economies do not operate in this manner. The market place operates by rewarding value with patronage. If you provide a valuable solution/product, the market will buy it, NOT to SUPPORT you, but to REWARD for the VALUE that your service provides. This is exactly the reason why sometimes; you may provide a cheaper product but still the market opts for a more expensive version because it provides better value.
So, entrepreneurs have to constantly think about how they can be more valuable to their customers and they will not have to beg for support. No one will buy from you, for any reasonable amount of time, just to support you. You also do not buy from people just to support them. You also want to get value for your dollar. At some point, people have to feel that they are getting their money’s worth.
In conclusion, I think those who are getting started in their entrepreneurship journey should accept that they have quite a bit to learn. Most entrepreneurs I know are happy to help anyone else who is starting out. When a business mentor or fellow entrepreneur asks you difficult questions, they are not hating on you or jealous of you. By addressing the issues they raise, you make your product better and in the process you also become better. The marketplace deserves a better version of you. Everyday.
Written by Celumusa Dlamini
Founding Partner & Business Mentor – TIM Global Group
Founding member – Property Square
Founding member – Net Storm Technologies
+268 7664 9739 | [email protected]
TIM Group is a people development and motivational company, aimed at equipping individuals with the knowledge and skills needed to live a life of purpose.
