The business idea

THE BUSINESS IDEA

 

The fact of being willing to be an entrepreneur is not enough to constitute a company; we have to succeed with the activity to develop. In this point we can find different situations:Símbolos Entretrain-39

  • We have the opportunity we are going to undertake
  • We have a previous idea, but we are not sure if it is a good solution
  • We have different ideas, but we do not know which one to choose
  • We are willing to create an enterprise, but we do not know which activity.

 

In any case, it is often advisable to plan some alternatives to the main idea, to have, this way, more options we can compare, thus improving the idea evaluation process.

 

In the origin of the idea, creativity plays a very important role. In this previous stage, the open mind and being prepared not to reject from the beginning are key to be able to generate some alternatives.

 

In the section “Generating ideas” you will find some suggestions and tools to search for new ideas.

 

Once we have one or several ideas, the next step is their analysis. In this evaluation process, apart from being objective and not allowing our emotions to interfere, we should follow some rules, described below:

 

10 GOLDEN RULES FOR THE IDEA EVALUATION

 

1)   Do not invest any resource before analysing enough the business idea.

We should avoid falling into the trap of investing in a hast before checking its feasibility

 

2)   Work in team.

The management team should be involved in the elaboration and development of the idea

 

3)   Have an independent external specialist, critical and expert.

External advice from an expert is necessary to balance the possible biases in the decision made by the promoter team

 

4)   A well-defined problem is half the answer.

The evaluation process will be more accurate if we have a clear, particular idea, taking into account the strategic framework for the analysis

 

5)   Do not jump to the first answer.

It might be too obvious… and wrong

 

6)   Do not mistake a business opportunity for a stable enterprise

An opportunity might be temporary and it might not have enough base to develop an enterprise basing on it

 

7)   Do not forget that public or private benefits might mislead the decision making.

An idea should be justified by itself, not for the benefits that might be got

 

8)   Looking for alternatives is always necessary

Justifying an idea because there is no other, without enough analysis, is a self-deception

 

9)   If we want to get innovative and creative ideas, the logic and experience should be left aside in the searching stage.

Nevertheless, in the stage to screen the new ideas, logic and experience, apart from other evaluation criteria, should be necessary to make decisions

 

10)The feasibility plan should not be used to justify an idea, but as a tool to analyse it from an enterprise and strategic perspective

The objective of the Feasibility Plan is the structured and exhaustive analysis of the feasibility of our business idea, never its justification