As most of you probably know by now, I recently launched IdeaMensch.com where I interview people from all across the Internet. One of the questions that usually gets asked and answered is "how do you bring ideas to life." Since many of the interviewees are much smarter than I am, I personally already have learned a lot from their responses. Here are some of my favorites.
Owen Gue – Owner of The Cycling House
I think most of my ideas have come to be while being outside doing something active. My mind is 10 times sharper when I’m not cooped up inside an office. If I’m really excited about this idea then I’ll start writing down notes because I usually come up with so many different scenarios my head can’t handle all of it at once. I have really great mentors in my life and I then take the idea to them to get their take on it. If I know that the people that I really respect in my life are behind me then I’ll take it to the next step. I try to be methodical about any new ideas I pursue. A pros and cons list is always helpful. I think the most important thing that I need when bringing an idea to life is be excited about it… Feeling stoked. If you have some serious motivation then there really isn’t anything that can stop you.
Richard Thalheimer, Founder of the Sharper Image
Most importantly, I think you need to do something you really love. You need to have an original angle and always treat people really well. Then I like to take a slow and methodical approach to building a business. It’s not a flashy approach nor does success come over night, but it works for me.
Justin Bigart, Co-Founder of Sage Spa Living
Ha. I generally go from idea to implementation in a straight fast line and then get market feedback working entirely under the assumption that I don’t know what I’m doing. Nothing frustrates me more then a group of smart people sucking all life out of an idea by polishing it too death. In my experience good ideas are a dime a dozen and never 100% right. You need to get the product of your idea in front of an audience, gather feedback (preferably bad) and iterate quickly to bring a business idea to life.
Clark Benson, CEO of Ranker
I get lots of ideas (for businesses and other things), but I have what may actually be a disease in that when an idea gets in my head in a certain way and I can’t get it out I just plunge into it full steam ahead. I probably don’t do enough planning in advance, it’s human nature to massively underestimate the time it will take to do something. I had the luxury of quick success with my first business, and so as soon as I had saved some capital, I dumped a big pile of it into my second business, and have done that ever since, though the businesses have gotten a lot more scalable. This enables me to move fast, but it certainly doesn’t ease the stress level, ha. Almost every time I start a business, I find myself 6 months in, when I’m working 80-90 hour weeks, going “why didn’t I really plan out the details through some more before going all-in”. Whenever I commit to an idea I want to get it out as fast as possible to beat any potential competition etc. But once you have a staff and overhead you have a lot of other things on your plate that can suck the time away from planning, so you end up working nights and weekends so you can really hone ideas without all the distractions. So far it has always worked out in the end, but it certainly makes the process quite a ride.
Jesse Lakes, Global Affiliate Manager for iTunes
- Pitch the idea off of the closest person that has some knowledge of that space. I have to do this quick as the ideas have a tendency to disappear if I try to file them for later use.
- If it passes that stage (most don’t) then I do some quick online due diligence on the concept.
- If the concept doesn’t exist yet then I will pitch the idea to as many trusted friends and family that are somewhat familiar with the space.
- Assuming I don’t hear anything to shut it down from my personal focus group I typically just dive right in, head first. I typically won’t put any money in it besides a domain name, but just time. If I can crank hard on a prototype for a few days to a week to bring it up to some sort of presentable project I will turn it loose. If it isn’t making money but still shows promise I will keep giving it time but generally not as much and see where things go over time.
How do you bring ideas to life?