That feeling after you have an idea and start executing
Hello Everyone,
So yeah, I have an idea, I feel excited about it. I thought about it and I am still excited. Now I start executing. Here I am, Me and my laptop. And then that voice starts in your head. "You are so small, how will you be able to make this thing happen. It ain't gonna happen". And in reality it is still small because it's just an Idea me and my laptop. And soon if I won't watch out that Idea I had ben excited about will fade away just as it happened to the previous ideas I had.
Now I don't want this to happen. What do I do? How do I make my small idea big? Facebook also didn't become big in one day or even one year.
So I am looking for advice and how you all are dealing with this feeling. Or don't you guys have this feeling?
Karl Popper once said something to the tune of "a good hypothesis is one which it is possible to disprove, not verify."
He was talking about the scientific method, but I think it applies to startup ideas as well.
(actually, I think framing startups as ideas is one of the biggest mistakes you can make at the beginning, but we've started down this path so let's continue)
You have an idea. It's exciting. You see endless opportunity and potential.
Now, it's your job to take that idea out into the real world and have potential customers tear it down and show you all the flaws/problems you didn't see before.
If you're attached to the 'idea', you'll disprove it quickly and be disillusioned - where do you go from there? Take the same idea and try and use it to solve someone else's problem instead?
That's a common error founders make, pivoting with an idea in search of a problem. And it almost never ends well.
Instead, try and be passionate about and focus on the problem your idea solves.
See that idea as just the first (and worst) attempt to solve the problem. Don't worry about getting feedback on the idea - talk to potential customers about the problem. Understand the problem. Love the problem. Think about the problem in the shower, in bed, on date night...
As you understand the problem better and better, you'll start to understand why your original idea (and subsequent product iterations) are obviously bad.
It'll become so obvious to you that this is the way to solve the problem that you won't be able to fathom why literally any idiot hasn't already solved it!
And that's how you build a product you're passionate about and where 'that feeling' you mentioned grows stronger day by day...
By listening to, understanding and caring about your customers and a specific problem they have, not by idolising some idea.
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(definitely not Douglas Adams)
It's interesting to use Popper for startup ideas. Question is - What does it take to refute a startup idea?
It takes an understanding of the success criteria for the problem you're focussed on solving.
Broadly, that might look something like:
Is the problem a priority for customers?
Is the 'cost' of the problem significantly higher than the cost (including time, implementation etc) of the proposed solution?
Does it cost less to sell and maintain the solution than the customer is willing to pay to have the problem solved?
... (there are probably lots more but I don't have time to think right now)
If you can prove that your idea fails at least one of these tests, you know you need to change something.
Doubt creeps in all the time. Who would your customers be? Talk to them. If it requires massive network effects break it down to the smallest viable service. simplify it more.
So yeah that's exactly my plan. My first, small babystep. I am planning a questionnaire which I will share on facebook and "hope" to get some feedback.
Failures are motivation killers, until you learn to shift your thinking into that there are no failures, but only opportunities to learn. And you need to make those tests that fail, so you can learn.
Think in advance: If no one answers your questions, what does it tell you? What hypothesis are you trying to prove and what are the next steps if that fails? What if it succeeds?
Edit: @louisswiss said it way better in his comment than I did
There is a lot of good advice on this page already. I would just add that its more about opportunities than ideas. Start with small ones and keep moving.
I feel many people get stuck looking for a big win, but thats not reality. Its small steps and with each step your stride gets bigger.
Actually Facebook became big pretty quick, it went viral. But this is Facebook and this was back in 2004. There is literally no reason to even compare to them or look at them. Or even companies like Microsoft. As one really big founder/investor mentioned a while ago, Microsoft's business model won't work today. My point is times have moved on, there are now more people in this, the infrastructure and tools etc are more accessible, so you have to start thinking about competing on these terms - do you even need to or even want to be Facebook big? I'm still learning and trying to find out myself. Here is an interesting article from the founder of BareMetrics, which has a tonne of more useful advice than I could ever provide you with:
https://baremetrics.com/blog/first-100-customers
Every reasonable person has these feelings and doubts, even the ones who act like they have it all figured out. (Bullshit.)
(I highly recommend The War of Art by Steven Pressfield for times like this; it's exactly about the feelings you're experiencing.)
This should be your mantra when the voices in your head start talking.
The only way you learn? It's by doing.
Remember this, and you can worry less about motivation and more about discipline. Putting your head down and doing the work. You'll automatically get smarter just by doing.
And when you get smarter (i.e., learn about your customers/market/product-market fit/etc.) and get wins by getting things done? That's the best motivation you can get as an early entrepreneur.
Everyone loves to talk about how an idea is worthless; it's nothing without execution. And that's true.
But what folks so often fail to mention is that luck is a significant component of success as well. (Not to short-change the big brains at Facebook and Google, but they got lucky in many large and small ways, too.)
You don't get lucky without doing (i.e., "the preparation").
tl;dr: If you're excited about your idea, run with it. The nay-saying voices are just your fear talking. And fear is just an emotion; it's not reality. Bite off manageable chunks and make a little progress every day. Get smarter and hit milestones. That's where you'll find your motivation.
Just do it!!!!
I also struggle with this idea - you are not alone! I think one of the biggest ways that I deal with it is very similar to how you think about it - Facebook didn't become big in one day or one year, but it did take putting in the work, day after day.
If you think about Pokemon Go, many people saw it as an overnight success. In reality it took the creator 20 years to build (https://www.inc.com/dana-severson/what-overnight-success-pokémon-go-took-20-years-to-take-off-according-to-its-cr.html). Again though, it takes showing up every day and putting in the work. The "showing up every day" is where many people falter and get stuck in the infinite loop of never following through. Keep showing up, keep putting in the work (even when you don't want to), and it will grow!
I have 2 feelings about this:
What I'm not good at: Finding your potential customers and getting feedback from them. There are so many ways to communicate now, but you have to find the people who care about what you're building, and somehow engage them so they want to talk to you, help you out, and try your idea and help steer it.
My weird idea: I'm open sourcing my most recent idea. I've built 3 apps previously, and nobody used them and that time is now lost and down the drain. At least with open source, you've contributed something to the world, even if others don't find it particularly valuable. Maybe someone, some day, will find an alternative use for that code or something.
I had the same feeling some months ago, but I tried to took it step by step. And also I tried to avoid comparing myself to big companies, because I can't mess with there man-power or financial background. I'm still unsure how my upcoming product will work out, but I will learn about in some weeks. Just keep the heads up and do your work. Step by step. :-)