

Executing an idea, means monetizing that idea - adii
http://adii.me/2011/08/idea-execution-and-monetization/

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adamski
I'm not sure I entirely agree with this article.

Obviously having a well thought through idea of the "end game" in terms of
monetisation / business model is a powerful thing, but given the tendency of
start-ups to adapt and pivot, this can overly dominate thinking early on.

The simplest case studies are the ideas whose value is linked to the size of
the community / user base. eBay were able to get round this by only charging
the community once it was large enough (ie I imagine they already had the
monetisation "end game" in mind) - but twitter, facebook? Not so much.

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adii
Not every idea's value is the size of its community though; in fact, most
ideas / businesses don't need thousands or millions of users to be profitable
or valuable.

So yes, if you're building a platform of sorts, then by all means skip the
monetization part initially. Skipping it though, does mean you incur the risk
that you won't be able to monetize properly later on. Simply saying you'll
figure out the revenue later on, is a bad excuse for not having a plan in
place before.

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ewalker
Have been pondering that myself with a very HOT start-up idea I'm working on.
Thanks - gave me some clarity.

