3 killer tips on how to turn your business from idea to reality
To turn your business from idea to reality is not an easy road. It will take a leap of faith, courage, perseverance, sacrifice and money.
I have a list of startup ideas as long as my arm.
Will I work on all of them… absolutely not.
Statistically, your startup will fail. This is common knowledge… I’ll let you look up the stats.
Based on my experience working with multiple startups here’s what I recommend doing if you wan’t to turn your business from idea to reality.
Ideas are cheap, execution is everything.
Chris Sacca, Investor in Twitter & Uber.
1. Hire a User Experience Designer
OK, Yes… Im bias here as i’m a Freelance UX Designer but i’ll try and be as impartial as possible. If there is anything you you’d like more information on feel free to read this article on the subject > Does your startup need a UX Designer
If you’re building a digital product, you need to get a user experience designer on your team. User Experience makes and breaks many a product when trying to turn your business from idea to reality.
Designers are uniquely skilled which they can visualise and fake a hypothetical solution before you work on the actual solution.
A good designer will be able to listen to your idea and ask the right questions to refine and structure the information into a clear architecture.
Often founders have a clear idea of the problem they’re solving and possible solution but miss key aspects when it comes to the detail.
A user experience designer will look at the problem you want to solve with multiple lenses.
- How will the customer use this.
- What does the business needs to do reach success.
- What is technically feasible to release now vs later.
They can create wireframes, prototypes and mockups which can be tested and itterated on before writing a single line of code.
This approach reduces risk and confirms you’re taking the right approach before going to development.
A user experience designer will work with you throughout the development process to make sure the final product matches the design intent. They will turn your business from idea to reality
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.
Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist
2. Prioritize and De-prioritize.
Do you think google, facebook or uber started out with all the features they had now?
No. They have built those products after many iterations over many years.
Your job as a startup founder is to prioritize and de-prioritize all the things you’d like your product to do into a huge list.
You need to weigh up every little things agaist everything else using these factors:
- How much value will it bring the user?
- How much value will it bring the business?
- How hard is it to build?
- Does your business really need it now?
- What result would you expect by having it?
You should have a thin layer of functionality to start off with. Your product won’t have all the bells and whistles but it should solve the core problem.
If you set out to build the perfect product with all the features you imagine you will never finish and turn your business from idea to reality.
The idea is to solve the core problem as easily as possible, then release something to learn from.
Use those learnings to then inform what you do next.
You’re better off with a kick-ass half than a half-assed whole.
David Heinemeier Hansson, Author Rework
3. Start selling
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of building the ‘Perfect’ solution before you can sell.
Trust me your startup will never be perfect.
Selling what you have or in some cases selling what you don’t have will give you valuable insights on what people need, want and are willing to pay for.
If you can get customers onboard to an idea before you’ve built anything you’re onto a winning solution.
Once you’ve signed up that first customer you just need to deliver on the solution.
Conclusion on turn your business from idea to reality
To turn your business from idea to reality will be a long road. These tips are only the start. As a startup founder you will need a lot of grit to weather the storm that is growing a technology business from scratch.