You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
blog.eladgil.com
You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
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Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#2It's true some successful company are the results of serious pivots. But I bet some 80% of them are the result of an initial good idea.
IMO you shouldn't build a company from a bad idea, but you can in your spare time try to validate an idea you're uncertain about. But don't quit your job at Google.
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#3It's true some successful company are the results of serious pivots. But I bet some 80% of them are the result of an initial good idea. IMO you shouldn't build a company from a bad idea, but you can in your spare time try to validate an idea you're uncertain about. But don't quit your job at Google.
Support from Fred Wilson's blog that most of his successful outcomes (success defined as "exit) were pivots:
"Of the 26 companies that I consider realized or effectively realized in my personal track record, 17 of them made complete transformations or partial transformations of their businesses between the time we invested and the time we sold. That means there a 2/3 chance you’ll have to significantly reinvent your business between the time you take a venture capital investment and when you exit your business."
Source: http://unionsquareventures.com/2007/11/why-early-stage.php
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#4It's true some successful company are the results of serious pivots. But I bet some 80% of them are the result of an initial good idea. IMO you shouldn't build a company from a bad idea, but you can in your spare time try to validate an idea you're uncertain about. But don't quit your job at Google.
Support from Fred Wilson's blog that most of his successful outcomes (success defined as "exit) were pivots: "Of the 26 companies that I consider realized or effectively realized in my personal track record, 17 of them made complete transformations or partial transformations of their businesses between the time we invested and the time we sold. That means there a 2/3 chance you’ll have to significantly reinvent your…
More from the same blog post by Fred Wilson on his investments:
"Here’s an interesting breakdown of the “transformers” versus the “stick to our plan” investments in my personal track record.
Greater than 5x – 11 total investments – 7 transformed, 4 did not
1x to 5x – 10 total investments – 6 transformed, 4 did not
Failures – 5 total investments, 1 transformed, 4 did not
Unrealized Union Square investments – 6 total, 3 transformed, 3 have not"
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#5If you're going to talk of great companies, you can't leave out the two juggernauts of our time.
Neither Google nor Facebook started as a company.
Both search and social networks were written off as markets when the two current leaders entered the space.
I don't want to invoke another semantic wrestling championship between execution and ideas, but you have to give credit to Facebook for realising that social networks are not just about dating. It was their idea of exactly replicating offline social relationships on the web, executed to near perfection that made them successful. Great ideas are a combination of many small seemingly trivial good ideas. They do matter, otherwise one wouldn't know what to execute.
I'm afraid this article does rather poorly on the swombat-o-meter - http://swombat.com/2011/1/20/how-to-write-good-startup-advic...
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#6I would think you don't need a great idea to have a great company, but you need an idea that is worth something.
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#7It's true some successful company are the results of serious pivots. But I bet some 80% of them are the result of an initial good idea. IMO you shouldn't build a company from a bad idea, but you can in your spare time try to validate an idea you're uncertain about. But don't quit your job at Google.
It's true some successful company are the results of serious pivots. But I bet some 80% of them are the result of an initial good idea.
The successful ones that are a result of an initial good idea are a strict subset of the ones that choose a promising market.
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#8If you're going to talk of great companies, you can't leave out the two juggernauts of our time. Neither Google nor Facebook started as a company. Both search and social networks were written off as markets when the two current leaders entered the space. I don't want to invoke another semantic wrestling championship between execution and ideas, but you have to give credit to Facebook for realising that social network…
I agree re: Facebook and Google. But to your point, both Facebook and Google could have been seen as bad ideas since, as you state:
>Both search and social networks were written off as markets when the two current leaders entered the space.
The point of this post is not "Are good ideas bad for a startup". Obviously good ideas are much better then bad ones, and great ones are much better then good ones.
The point of the post is "don't think you need the most amazing idea ever to start something. it is more important to start something and learn what the great idea is along the way".
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#9If you're going to talk of great companies, you can't leave out the two juggernauts of our time. Neither Google nor Facebook started as a company. Both search and social networks were written off as markets when the two current leaders entered the space. I don't want to invoke another semantic wrestling championship between execution and ideas, but you have to give credit to Facebook for realising that social network…
I agree re: Facebook and Google. But to your point, both Facebook and Google could have been seen as bad ideas since, as you state: >Both search and social networks were written off as markets when the two current leaders entered the space. The point of this post is not "Are good ideas bad for a startup". Obviously good ideas are much better then bad ones, and great ones are much better then good ones. The point of t…
Sorry, this topic is bound to lead to a semantic merry-go-round!
Facebook and Google are examples of great ideas executed well creating huge markets, which did not exist when they set out. So how would have their founders fared if they chose to focus on a great market at the start? We would have yet another portal with banner advertising and a dating site.
I agree with the point of the post you mention here, but your post doesn't really support that.
Your advice is to focus on a great market. One of the hottest markets right now seems to be photo sharing. But I highly doubt the next great company will come out of there.
Can you give me an example of a great market today?
Re: You Dont Need a Good Idea To Start a Great Company
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree re: Facebook and Google. But to your point, both Facebook and Google could have been seen as bad ideas since, as you state: >Both search and social networks were written off as markets when the two current leaders entered the space. The point of this post is not "Are good ideas bad for a startup". Obviously good ideas are much better then bad ones, and great ones are much better then good ones. The point of t…
Sorry, this topic is bound to lead to a semantic merry-go-round! Facebook and Google are examples of great ideas executed well creating huge markets, which did not exist when they set out. So how would have their founders fared if they chose to focus on a great market at the start? We would have yet another portal with banner advertising and a dating site. I agree with the point of the post you mention here, but your…
:) Thanks for the points above.
"Great market" /= "hot market"
Great market to my mind is a market that has a lot of users who will use your product (and better yet, you can make money off of them using your product). Maybe I will write a post on how to identify a great market, as that is a pretty big topic. But one example is often markets where user behavior is fundamentally shifting, or where there is a sudden change (e.g. adoption of truly smart phones) leading to opportunity.
I think certain areas in ecommerce are a good example today of changes in user behavior and business model leading to high growth companies (Gilt Group was just the beginning, and some really cool companies are getting started today around fashion/women's goods online).