We often see new entrepreneurs hold on tight to their business ideas for fear that someone might steal them. This is natural, and of course, it’s important to be thoughtful about how you protect your intellectual property. But if you are looking to create a sustainable business, it’s necessary to step out of your fear and share your idea. This week, we’re exploring how you can gain from sharing your new business idea.
Reduce Biases and Blind Spots
More than likely, your new business idea came from your own lived experience. You saw challenges with the existing solutions and were motivated to improve the experience. Because your idea is so close to you, you bring in your own biases about what needs to happen. You might also have blind spots because you don’t have a full picture of your customer needs and behaviors. By sharing your idea, you can reduce your biases and blind spots, gain a better understanding of market needs, and identify how to design an effective solution.
Ideas Need Execution
For many people, especially those who see an abundance of opportunities, coming up with an idea is easy. But, generating an idea is just the beginning of the process. Creating a sustainable business out of your idea takes a lot of time, effort, and resources, and it opens you up to a lot of risk. As you share your idea, you’ll likely encounter people who had the same or a similar idea but are too busy with their own lives or don’t want to take the risk of turning that idea into a business for themselves.
No One Can Do It Like You Can
There are so many alternatives to how any idea can be executed. There are different ways to address the market opportunity, create a solution, develop a business model, and plan strategies to grow the business. Two people may have the same general business idea, but the likelihood of them both having the same strategies and outcomes is slim to none. As such, the idea doesn’t matter as much as how you execute on it through your story and passion to see it through—especially the unique solution your vision provides, and the culture and community you and your team create.
It’s an Iterative Process
This one is for the perfectionists. If you wait to get the idea out there until you have the perfect messaging, brand, website, or solution, you miss the opportunities to get critical feedback to make sure you are on the right track. Good execution of your business idea is an iterative process that allows you to build, measure, learn, and adjust to create a business that serves your market, creates the positive community impact you want to achieve, and works for the lifestyle you want to lead.