Idea for a startup !!

Are we always in search of an IDEA ?

Yes as a popular brand has its tagline "An IDEA can change your life.". It surely can. I would say the human brain is the least tapped, under utilized natural resource ever. We can think of anything anywhere anytime of the day or night. And still I come across people, even me at times asking for a million dollar idea. Maybe thats it ..maybe we really are over rating it.

Actually being in the IT industry its quite easy to be disillusioned in to over hyping it. We all have seen rather assumed that ideas make money. All we need is one out of this world extra ordinary idea to make it big in the industry. Naaaaaa I dont think so thats the case , yeah few of the major hits in the industry are good ideas but I dont think when they were actually put to table in the first meeting they looked even close to what they ended up becoming. The market changes to frequently , that even if your idea is even worth something when you think about it by the time you implement it :P .

No I am not trying to discourage working on the million dollar idea you think you have but yes what I am discouraging is thinking it over and over again. Start with it , maybe 10 steps and you might loose interest in it or realize that its not worth that much but atleast you would have done something about ti and LEARNT out of it. Youll make sure your next idea passes through this new learning , and over time your ideas get so filtered and tested in your head that youll get better, more concrete ideas popping up next time.

Over the years (not many :P) Ive realized few things/ ways to test them out :-

1. Skin it - Take out the feathers that is making the idea fly so high in your head. Everyone in the world needs this.If I make this Ill have about half the world signing up for it and the other half asking for sign up invitations - No get to ground reality and then start thinking about it, because at times it hinders our logical way of thinking.
2. Self grilling - Imagine that the idea popped out of the person you hate/detest the most and you have to fail it no matter what. Come up with good logical reasoning for it , and not that my mom wont be able to use it so its not a good idea.
3. Friendly test - Once it passes the self grilling put it up infront of your friends you trust and most probably would end up working with on the idea. Most of the ideas would go down here, there could be 2 reasons for it.
• The team I chose was wrong (90% people would think this way). They dont get the big picture.
• The team was right.
  
  But if you could not sell the idea to a bunch of people you know , then forget convincing the world for it. Drop it start thinking again.
4. Acid test -get in a few industry people , the industry you targeting or the target audience of your idea. Ask them would they use it ?
5. Mom test - ask your mom :P explain her the whole scenario and then your idea. See if she accepts it :P.
6. Ok we can skip the last test but yeah it does help at times.
7. Get to work - Gather the team you plan to work with most likely the ones in step 3. They should be enthu enough that you can start.

Keep small targets , follow what most people do - release small features, release more frequently. This will keep your target audience interested too.

to be continued later...

As if Ive been through all this :P