The Perfect Idea
A tale for modern little business children everywhere
In the middle of May, in the middle of dinner, in the middle of a bite of Freddy’s delicious spaghetti, Chris dropped his fork and screamed, “I’ve got it!”
“What,” cried Freddy in surprise. “What have you got?”
“The perfect idea!” Chris said, beaming.
“That’s great,” Freddy said. “What is it?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you that!” Chris said, in a shocked voice. “I have to keep it a secret.”
“Why can’t you tell me?” Freddy asked.
“Well,” Chris explained, “if I start telling people about it, then someone might steal it.”
Freddy frowned. “I wouldn’t steal your idea, Chris.”
“Oh, I know you wouldn’t do that, Freddy,” Chris said. “I’m just being extra careful. It’s not every day someone has an idea this perfect.”
“Well, I guess I understand,” Freddy agreed, but his voice sounded less than happy about it.
“Now don’t be mad at me, Freddy,” Chris smiled. “When I’m rich and famous, I promise I’ll share my success with you. After all, if you hadn’t invited me over to your place for dinner tonight, I might never have had this perfect idea.”
After dinner, after dessert, and after Chris went home, both Freddy and Chris went to their rooms and pulled out their computers.
Chris typed up an outline of his perfect idea, and saved it in a special secret folder with a password nobody could ever guess.
Freddy blogged to his friends about his latest spaghetti recipe, and told them all about what he wanted to try next.
For the rest of the month, Chris put everything else aside and worked tirelessly on his perfect idea. He researched the business on the internet, he wrote up important-sounding descriptions, and he drew up detailed charts and graphs, all of which he kept carefully organized in the secret folder on his computer.
Freddy spent the same month experimenting in his spare time with his spaghetti recipes. Sometimes he invited friends to come over and try them out, and sometimes he just posted pictures and recipes from his experiments on his blog, asking people to test them and let him know what they thought. Not every experiment turned out well, but he posted them all anyway.
By the middle of June, Chris was almost finished writing a real business plan for his perfect idea. It was just the right length, with just the right font, and used just the right words. He made sure nobody saw it, and filed it in his secret folder, so it would be completely safe and original.
Meanwhile, Freddy was getting more and more comments on his blog about how interesting his spaghetti experiments were. Some of his friends shared their own experiments, and asked Freddy for his opinions. Freddy even got an invitation to cook one of his experimental spaghettis at a dinner party for a local social group of food lovers, and he happily accepted.
By the middle of July, Chris was ready to start talking to lawyers about how he should protect his perfect idea. Chris searched and searched until he found the best lawyer money could buy. He paid the lawyer a lot, and came away with a piece of paper that Chris could get people to sign, agreeing that they wouldn’t steal his perfect idea.
Freddy posted pictures of the dinner party on his blog, and several of the food lovers shared them with their friends. People Freddy had never met started posting messages on Freddy’s blog, asking where they could buy his special spaghetti sauces. “You don’t have to buy them,” Freddy usually answered. “The recipes are right here on my blog. You can make them yourself.”
By the middle of August, Chris was exhausted from all his hard work. He was trying to set up private meetings with bankers, and people with money, to convince them how perfect his idea was. Many of them refused to meet with him, because they weren’t willing to sign the paper from the lawyer without knowing what Chris’s ideas was first. Chris was starting to get frustrated.
Freddy was getting invited to cook at more dinner parties. And so many people were asking to buy Freddy’s sauces that he wasn’t sure what to do next. People were even offering to pay in advance, just to get to the head of the line.
Freddy had never really thought about running a company, and had no idea how to do it. He wasn’t sure whom he should ask for help. Then he remembered his friend Chris, who always seemed to think about things in a businesslike way, even in the middle of a friendly dinner in May. Maybe he could help.
Freddy gave his friend Chris a call.
“Chris, I really need your help!” Freddy explained. “I have all these people who want to buy my sauces, and hire me to make all these spaghetti dinners. I just don’t know what to do about it.”
Chris quickly looked up some information online, and told Freddy, “It’s really easy. You just need a commercial kitchen that you can rent a few hours a month where you can make your sauces.”
“But I already have a perfectly good kitchen!” Freddy objected.
Chris laughed, and explained, “It has to be a commercial kitchen, inspected by the city, so everyone will know the sauces are safe and healthy.”
“Oh,” Freddy said. “You sure found that quickly. Do you think you can help me get a business started?”
“I don’t know,” said Chris. “Do you have a business plan?”
“No,” said Freddy.
“Do you have a lawyer?”
“No.”
“Do you have investors?”
“No,” Freddy said, “but I have a huge list of people who want to buy my spaghetti sauce.”
Chris looked over at his computer with its secret folder. So far his perfect idea had cost him three months of his time, and almost all of his money, and it was nowhere near becoming a successful business.
Maybe starting a business wasn’t just about coming up with a perfect idea, he thought. Maybe Freddy could teach him a thing or two about business.
“I’ll do it!” Chris agreed. “Now we just need to think of a name….”
