MyGeniosidea!

As we can all get sometimes lost in the uniqueness of our ideas, some probably even justifiably so, I would venture a guess that 95% of ideas need a little bit more than just the idea itself, to succeed. When it comes to describing your idea in your business plan, keep the zeal but let’s keep it real.

In a recent article by Tim Berry (www.bplans.com) published in a Canadian small business publication (www.sohomagazine.ca), Winter 2006 issue, a very grounded quote:

Idea Inflation

“Don’t overestimate the importance of the idea. You don’t need a great idea to start a business; you need time, money, perseverance, and common sense. Few successful businesses are based entirely on new ideas. A new idea is harder to sell than an existing one, because people don’t understand a new idea and they are often unsure if it will work.

Plans [business plans] don’t sell new business ideas to investors. People do. Investors invest in people, not ideas. The plan, though necessary, is only a way to present information.”

Take it from someone who started in the trenches…..literally. In the hotel business I started as a Janitor; in the construction business I started carrying out the trash and digging ditches. I rose rapidly through the career ranks and although the significant financial rewards eluded me,  no one could out-dream me and my big ideas. I figured if I could understand the hospitality business and then the construction business, I would be someday in a position to build my own properties!….and what a property it will be….you see, I’ve had for some years now,  my own idea of building the worlds first revolving hotel…. yes, all the rooms revolve 24 hours a day (not just the dining platform on the roof-top)!

The point. Sure it sounds like a great idea, but I’ve spent almost 20 years building a foundation for the right people to take me  and the idea seriously. That has taken some work, some suffering, and even periods of personal delusion along the way, but I’ve endured, persevered, and met a lot of good people along the way who are willing to participate once the funding is in place.

Your idea may not be as grandiose or wild, but the principle remains the same. Once you’ve settled on your idea, get to work on all the other aspects of bringing it to fruition. Most importantly, become the person whom you would like to work with or invest in in if you were someone else. It truly is about people in the end.

Fred Wilson wrote in his venture capital blog at Union Square Ventures com:

Founders and Management

 ”No business is so good that the wrong people can’t mess it up. And no business is so bad that the right people can’t fix it. If you think about what a business is, it’s a collection of people who have been organized in attempt to profit from offering a product or service to the marketplace. So if you don’t get the people part of the equation right, everything else is really immaterial.

And the people issues always start at the top of the company. Great people attract and retain great people and build a culture where the best people like to work. They value people, compensate them well, motivate them well, and manage them well. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who don’t have what it takes to lead an organization. For some people, that is because they don’t enjoy managing people. For others, that is because they don’t have the empathy or self awareness that is required to manage others. There are many reasons why some people don’t make good managers and leaders.”

Read entire article at: http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/01/founders_and_ma.html

Suffice to say in summary of this blog, that while we all have ideas, it is important to keep everything in perspective. Everyone in an organization wants an idea to succeed. And all for different reasons. Depending on your role, the idea of what actual success is, will usually hinge on more than the idea itself.

Don’t lose your zeal. Keep it real. It is still worth pursuing.

Gary