How NOT To Start A Business

Hi Dave-

Great thoughts you lay out here.

Part of your post in particular struck me:

> 1. They start with a simple idea to make
> money
> 2. They build a simple prototype of the
> product or service
> 3. They immediately go out and sell the idea
> or product to see if anyone will buy it in
> it's simplest from

> If they make money and they sell a few,
> great!

> If it sells well and they're getting good
> feedback from customers, they'll plan to
> "add" features to the product and
> make it even better and sell even more.

> If they don't and nobody wants it, they go
> back to the drawing board, get another idea
> and try that.

I think that's a real key point. It's a bad idea to spend months or years planning a product or business and then launch it, without even testing it first. Imagine spending all kinds of time tinkering with and perfecting a business and then going forward with it, only to discover that what you thought was a "sure thing" doesn't even interest people!

As you suggest, there's a better way to go. You might have a grandiose vision of a huge business, but really the best thing you can do is break that vision down into small pieces and test them one at a time. Get some feedback on them from your target market...you'd be amazed how easily you can miss things, and how much simpler it is to have someone else point out mistakes in the beginning rather than down the road. Just keep rolling out small pieces, testing them, gathering feedback and improving/adding to your plans. Over time you get on a roll and things really start to come together.

Another thing is, this method is probably easier on many people psychologically. You don't have to wait 2 years to see the results of your work...you can see some small results right away by doing this.

Anyway, the point is that business, like life, is always a work in progress :)

take care,
Matt