200 paying customers in two months!

It’s been exactly two months since I launched softwareideas.io, and just before the close of the second month we got our 200th customer!

If I can give one piece of advice to help you achieve a similar outcome, it’d be this: The idea you choose matters.

When I talk to founders who have had both successful and unsuccessful companies, they almost always mention that they aren’t necessarily working harder now - they’re just working on the right thing.

Of course, execution matters. I’m not saying it doesn’t. But the common mental model IHers have is that execution is a multiplier. The mental model looks something like this:

Ideas

• Bad Idea: 1

• Good Idea: 10

• Great Idea: 100

Execution

• Bad execution: 1x

• Good execution: 10x

• Great execution: 100x

Result = idea score * execution multiplier

This is what I believed for a while, but now I’m doubting it. When you have an idea that people don’t want to pay for, it doesn’t matter how well you execute. You won’t make sales.

However, if you have a good idea, you need some baseline of execution to get it going - AKA finding a distribution channel - but after that growth comes easily.

So here’s the mental model I’ll offer you instead:

• Bad idea and good execution: 0

• Good idea and bad execution: 0

• Good idea and good execution: 1,000

• Great idea and great execution: 100,000

What do you think?