Ideas Last: A New Way to Startup

An introduction to the ‘Ideas Last’ approach that I developed (and use) while advising startup companies

Being an entrepreneur can be a wild, exhilarating, devastating and deeply personal experience. I know because I’ve been there.

When you have that great idea, it’s hard to gain perspective. And stay focused on what’s important.

Your idea might be the spark that got you where you are today but once you decide to hit the gas, your idea needs to take a back seat. The most successful entrepreneurs stay focused on their customers first. Your end product will be a mashup of a thousand inputs, only one of which is your initial idea. It’s your job to make sense of the inputs and navigate to a successful outcome.

The AH-HA Moment

You’ve hit on that brilliant idea that is going to be revolutionizing .. ground-breaking .. people are going to come in droves, you’ll never be able to keep pace with demand. So you start grinding, you create your beta version, you release it in the wild .. and then .. crickets.

A common reaction to this situation is to assume your marketing is falling short. If only the consumers were more educated or your messaging was better, then you would have more users. Or, you might be tempted to blame your sales team OR, maybe if you just had one more product feature, then the sales would start rolling in.

At this moment in the startup journey many entrepreneurs mistakingly blame everything, except the product. But this is precisely the time to stop and evaluate your strategy: are you going to stubbornly remain fixated on your original idea or are you going to adapt? This is an important and defining moment for any entrepreneur; it is where the average are separated from the exceptional.

During my years entrenched in the startup world, I discovered a few recurring themes and common roadblocks, mainly related to an “idea” mindset that is unwilling to adapt.

Ideas Last Fundamentals

When I think of where successful products live, I imagine a giant X where both legs of the X can move up and down, back and forth. One leg is your playground (marketplace or industry) and the other leg is your product idea.

Your initial spark is at the intersection of product idea and marketplace (playground)

But, neither your idea nor your playground are discreet. Your spark defines a target idea and target marketplace (blue stars). But your mindset should be that both targets are loosely defined. There are adjacent product ideas and adjacent marketplaces where your product may thrive.

Your idea and playground are both a continuum versus discrete points

Your ultimate goal is to explore the continuum and create a product that lives in that golden intersection between your playground and idea.

Your most successful product will live in the optimal intersection of idea and playground

Getting Started

Your original idea should only be the spark that gets you started. Execution of a successful product strategy involves an interdisciplinary roadmap that is constantly evolving.

How do you get started?

1. Research your idea. Is anyone else doing this? If not, why? If yes, how will you differentiate? Dig deep and look for answers you probably don’t want.
2. Involve potential customers from the start. Ask people how they are addressing the problem you intend to solve. Keep your eyes and ears open because your friends and family may just stroke your ego without critically evaluating the problem. And potential prospects are slippery — ask intentional open-ended questions. Your goal is good, unbiased feedback.
3. Build your MVP to collect usage stats and review them frequently. This will show you if and how people are using your product.

Interested in learning more? Check out my website to connect!