Three filters to keep in mind while pursuing a new idea | #DailyBlink56
It's crazy how a Rs100 book can change your life forever. One such book that I recently came across a book fair. It was “The Messy Middle” by Scott Belsky. He is the founder of Behance. And the whole book revolved around his journey on building a successful startup by bootstrapping for years and later getting acquired by Adobe.
Honestly, it has one of the best books I have read on entrepreneurship after a very long time. It was all about the candid experience with a lot of lessons and wisdom in it. Any entrepreneur would love it.
Three Simple Idea
Three Ideas that I have found from the book that you should keep in mind before working on a new idea or working on a solution to a problem:
1. Empathy with a Need and Frustration: You have to understand the struggle of your users.
Are you empathizing with customers who will benefit from your idea?
What is their frustration and where is it coming from?
Since you are often a customer of your own product, pay special attention to what frustrates you. As Jerry Seinfeld once explained in an interview with Harvard Business Review when he was asked where his best ideas come from, “ It’s very important to know what you don’t like,” he explained. “A big part of innovation is saying, ‘You know what I’m really sick of?’ . . . ‘What am I really sick of?’ is where innovation begins.” What frustrates you likely frustrates many others.
2. Humility with the Market: Humble yourself with the market dynamics around you.
Is there another company in a much better position to serve your customers than you are?
If so, what has prohibited them from doing so?
What change in the market could immediately cripple your prospects?
3. Passion for the Solution: The final filter for an idea is whether or not you are passionate about the solution. I recall a number of on-demand laundry start-ups that had a market opportunity but whose founders realized, a few years into the journey, that they didn’t really care about laundry. Just because you see a market need doesn’t mean you’re the one to solve it.
If you’re not willing to spend day and night, year after year, solving the problem, then you’re likely to fall short or quit before you figure it out.
When turning an idea into an active venture, you must seek empathy with your customers and humility in your market. Don’t let your passion drive you too far ahead of where your customer is.
Empathy and humility act as powerful filters. The day you lose empathy is the day you lose.
The book is undoubtedly full of nuggets and is definitely a recommended book for aspiring entrepreneurs willing to start a startup in the future.
You must know, startups are not just about an idea, seed fund, venture capital, valuation, and acquisitions. It a lot more in between that is where the real crux lies.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you find it helpful. Say Hi 👋 Twitter Instagram. I’d love to connect.
Your Friend,
Riten
