A Startup Guy

Recently, I’ve had several people pitch me what they term their “million dollar idea.” Of course, what they mean is their idea is so good that implementing it will make a million bucks. And, of course, being a startup guy, they’re hoping I’ll take the ball and run, make a million, and cut them in on their rightful share. It was their “million dollar idea”, wasn’t it?

The truth of the matter is, there are no million dollar ideas. I can’t think of a single idea I’ve ever heard that was a million dollar idea. There are big ideas, but that’s differnt. Ideas are actually a dime a dozen. Heck, they’re more like a penny for 1,000. Need a business idea? There are tons of websites offering them free. There are even sites like Half Bakery that poke fun at how silly most of the ideas are. There are NO million dollar ideas. There are, however, million dollar (and BILLION dollar) execution of ideas!

It’s how well you execute an idea that pays off (as I recently proved). A well executed bad idea will likely not succeed, but a well-executed big idea can make you (and lots of other people) rich. So, the next time you have a great business idea, remember it’s not worth a hill of beans until you actually do something with it.

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A project I’ve been working on for the last two years came to an ubrupt halt this week. Major fail on my part.

I’ve written in the past that failure happens and is even encouraged. Failure teaches us what not to do next time, what doesn’t work, how to succeed the next time around. That having been said, it still hurts incredibly bad. When you’ve poured your heart & soul into something  you’re incredibly passionate about, and it fails, it’s devastating.

The real test, though, is will you persevere and come back for more. You can’t let it beat you. Losing this time is a failure. Letting it beat you makes you a failure. The difference is all up to you.

Me? I’ve already got a list of new projects to start on. I’m down, but never out. On to the next startup.

Dear GOP,

My deepest condolences on your recent loss. It was a monumental loss (president, house and senate) and I’m sorry you had to go through that.

In the next few days and weeks, there will be much hand-wringing and introspection. Probably even some sniping and finger-pointing. I pray that through it all you will be able to stop, work your way through the grief and finally face the truth. You lost and you deserved it.

Here is some quick advice to help you avoid some of the navel-gazing. If you think your loss was due to the economy, John McCain as candidate, talk radio, Sarah Palin, liberals, George W. Bush, the Iraq War, ACORN, Dick Cheney, Al Qaeda, MoveOn.org, the Talaban or high gas prices, you’re wrong. Those were parts of the puzzle, but none of them is why you lost. You lost because Barack Obama knew what Reagan knew and what Kennedy knew: You must offer people something to hope for and something to aspire to. Not something to vote against.

You’ve lost touch with your core values. You’ve disconnected from your roots. You’ve used Ronald Reagan as a magic incantation for winning rather than as a role model and lesson on how to win. You sold your soul for 30 pieces of silver and 10 years of power. And now you reap what you have sown.

Quit looking back. Look forward, return to your core values and find your voice again. Or don’t… and fade away.

If you wish to discuss further, have your people call my people and we’ll do lunch.

Best wishes,
A Startup Guy

P.S. John McCain, in your moment of defeat you were a class act and I applaud you.

Image via Wikipedia

In light of my recent post “What If You Threw A Party & No One Came“, this one from Seth Godin titled “Failure As An Event” seems fitting. Give it a read.

As an entrepreneur, as a startup guy, you cannot fear failure. It’s how we learn. Babies crawl clumsily until they get it right. Then they fall many times while learning to walk. It’s how they master balance and coordination.

Entrepreneurs fail. It’s a part of the growth process. So don’t fear failure.

One of the concerns that stops many people from starting up their own company is this very thought. What happens if I start my business and no one buys? The truth is, that’s a risk for all of us. And most entrepreneurs will experience it at some time or another. However, if you let that stop you from achieving your goals, that’s the biggest shame of all.

Ouch
It’s a big ol’ wedgie to the ego if you put your heart & soul into a product and no one seems to want it. I know. I’ve been there… recently. For years I dreamed of having a service that would allow people to find historic sites that interested them and pull down data that helped them understand and appreciate the place more. Originally, I couldn’t act on it because I “knew” the costs would be too high and the technology just wasn’t quite there. A few years later, I realized no one was going to do this for me. I set out to build what I could. I designed a system that would allow people to collect their favorite sites online into customized travel guides. They could add site listings as wellas rate and review existing listings. Travelers could start their own blog through the site to talk about the sites they wanted to see and what they’d already seen.

Sounds great doesn’t it? About halfway through building it, I found out that Yahoo Travel had a general travel site that did just this. Then I discovered other sites I hadn’t found before doing similar stuff. (I still had a niche product – history, theirs were general travel sites.) To make matters worse, I had to scale back some of the features due to my limited coding skills and funds. (This project is where I learned to build PHP sites and work with mySQL.) Now, I had a non-unique, scaled back site. But I launched. And I was proud. And no one came. I invited everyone I knew: family, friends, friends of friends, friends of family. People came once and didn’t come back. I was crushed. I tried for a year and half to get regular users. But it didn’t happen. I took it personally.

Finally, I stepped back and looked closely at what I had built. It was fun to use (for me), but it wasn’t remarkable. It was a niche version of what others were doing. Why use my niche site when you can use Yahoo’s ultra-integrated, hooked-into-Flickr-and-Yahoo-Travel site? Why go to my site with no users when you could go through TripAdvisor with millions of active users? Finally, I quit feeling sorry for myself and realized that this wasn’t a referendum on me. The site wasn’t remarkable, but it didn’t mean people didn’t like me. In fact, many actually like the site. I get more than 1,000 unique visitors every month. People looking for information on historic sites. They just aren’t regular users.

Lessons Learned
The lesson is that if you throw your own party and no one comes, don’t take it personally. It hurts your feelings, but feel bad for a few days and then move on. You’ve got lots of potential. This isn’t your only idea. If you move on and work at your next project with the same gusto you gave this one, and apply the new lessons you’ve learned, you will eventually succeed.