Your Startup Starts with An Idea
PSL Bootcamp Blog: Lesson 1 — Find a Problem You’re Passionate About
A great idea, we are told, is the foundation of a great new business. So how does an entrepreneur come up with an idea? As Rick Nucci, Chairman of Philly Startup Leaders board and Founder of Boomi and Guru, shared, you need to find a problem you are passionate about.
This means you need an intense, energetic, consuming drive to solve a problem with a solution that is beneficial and valuable to others. Your original solution may not be the right one, and that is ok. The correct solution is the one that the market understands and adopts. As a founder, your job is not to be right but to be flexible and adaptable enough to make it through the necessary process of iterating around your customers to find their optimal solution. A passion for the problem, and not the solution, will get you there. Of course, it will take time and support.
In building your business, the first priorities are figuring out your team, market and product. Taking these in reverse, the product is the solution to the problem. Find the essence of what compels your customers to purchase the product and focus on iterating around that to drive to continuous product improvement. With more knowledge and experience, iterations of that first product will likely lead to a next gen product, or line extensions.
Understand your market. The market shows where growth is occurring and investors are likely to spend money. If you are seeking to narrow down a range of ideas, find potential clients or identify VC firms, then look for a $1B+ sized market and focus on companies who play within that space. Examples of large, rapid growth markets are cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital education. If your market doesn’t fit this mold, that does not mean you should give up on your idea but it likely means you will not secure venture capital to pursue it. Examples of ideas that do not fit this mold typically include consulting businesses or new restaurants.
The team is, at its core, two people: a customer-facing visionary and a builder — usually referred to as a business lead and a technical lead. As the founder, assess your skills and find a complementary partner. Know that this may take time. Ever had a great friend until you lived together and realized great friends do not always make great roommates? Finding a solid business partner is more complex, so get to know someone over time before making it official. During that time, work on projects together, brainstorm together, and deal with stressful situations together. A person with great work experience doesn’t mean they will be your personality fit and vice versa. After you believe you have found a partner, and perhaps even other team members, hold off on giving out titles. Titles are easy to give out but can cause problems, and they are difficult to take away should the need arise.
Support doesn’t stop at team. It is a good idea to have a small group of trusted advisors to help you build your company. Try finding an angel investor who knows your space and understands why the problem you are trying to tackle exists in the first place. This person will help remove risk from your team, market and product. By contrast, VCs and others are usually not as knowledgeable about the pain point you are addressing but they will provide valuable business advice and opinions as well. Don’t get distracted by conflicting advice and do avoid taking opinion as gospel. Too much help may paralyze your ability to make decisions, or cause you to follow all options, either of which will halt your momentum and spread your limited resources too thin.
A problem you are passionate about is likely a problem for others as well. Start exploring solutions, and whether there is a potential market for them, and you are on your way to laying the foundations of a new business.
By Elissa Prichep
