

5 Ways to Know If Your Business Idea Is Any Good - SarahToton
http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/2008/10/10/5-ways-to-know-if-your-business-idea-is-any-good/

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mjnaus
1) Loving what you do will definitely make it a whole lot easier to stick with
your project and reach your milestones. However, it says absolutely nothing
about how great a business your idea will make. I am sure a bunch of kids
loved making a tool to throw sheep at their friends at Facebook... does that
make it a good business idea?

2) Same thing, it will help execution but it says bupkis about how well your
idea is suited to become a successful business. I am sure we could find at
least one person willing to pay for throwing sheep at their friends, does that
say anything about greatness of the idea? Try starting with 20+ customers.

3) It's getting boring, I know, but the same thing applies here. Your
execution will go one heck of a lot easier if it's dirt cheap, but it says
nothing about the quality of your idea.

4) Hardly any great business is build by a single person or started with a
great team in place. As ideas mature and evolve, so do the people executing
the idea.

"You can’t have a hope at success unless you either know how to run your
business or have people who can do it for you."

What happened to "learning as you go". As your business grows, so do you and
so do the people around you. Granted, do you need to do your research before
getting into a certain industry, but having it all figured out from the get-go
is unrealistic and will put a serious brake on execution.

What happened to being cash-flow positive, having good growth, having an
active and growing user-base?

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wheels
Agreed. All the things from the post should be filed under "Rule 0: Common
Sense."

I'd modify _learning as you go_ to _being reactive_. You always have to learn
as you go, but the part that seems most critical in there is being able to
recognize which pieces of information that flow across your view are critical
in shaping your direction and being able to factor those in.

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AlexeyMK
4/5 (all except for the paying customer) isn't too bad, right? Plus, I'm using
my own money, and I use look.fo on a daily basis, so perhaps I'm the paying
customer?

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ovi256
Sneaky. Almost did not notice the plug. What about revenue ? Without a revenue
mechanism, it's not a bussiness, it's a hobby.

~~~
AlexeyMK
Almost, right? :)

Theoretically, AdSense for Search revenues. But it really is more of a hobby;
you're right. Do you use IM? If you do, take a look - no registration
required.

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tocomment
I have a lot of ideas for enterprise software. Any ideas how to get customers?
Do I have to hire a sales guy? Where do I find one?

