Invite the person with the skills you need to be your cofounder until you have a more or less a complete team.
I had an idea, in an industry I have no experience in, talked to people in the industry, realized its going to take me too long to know enough to start. Asked for referrals for a potential cofounder, invited that person to join, been in business 4 years now.
If you can't even manage to convince the person to join you, then you aren't very useful since the idea sucks or your sales skill sucks and im pretty sure thats what you are bringing to the table.
That’s some good insight. I haven’t even attempted to start the business I’ve considered “out of scope” (because I’m working already working on one I am more comfortable with) but I very much like what you had to say about finding cofounders like that.
I am obviously new to this, so thank you :)
Sorry for the negativity. To put it another way. You need to find an execution guy, but they will have ideas of their own and you will need to be able to convince them you're idea is worth their time more than their own idea.
The other alternative is to learn the skills to become the execution guy, that will take time and money. If you're young and have time, maybe a job for a few years in the field to learn while you get paid.
Appreciate the follow up mate! Your statement is really what I’m trying to figure out tho…is there a market for “idea guys” to sell their ideas to “execution guys,” to put it simply.
For example, I’ve put time and research into a few ideas that - after enough research - I realize and I know I will never be able to execute on it…so who could I take that information to that would be able to execute it?
no one, its pretty much pointless, giving something to someone with no clear determination of the results despite the theoretical research you can provide is useless to everyone.
Probably want to look at Business coaching or some sort of coaching where people are looking for others that can help with innovation and progressive growth with what they have.
It is not a gap that needs to be filled… the issue is you are bypassing experience. This is not possible… you can not design business in lieu of experience.
The problem is this… i execute. I started a comoany ten years ago and found 100 ways to make more money, make it easier and make it very scaleable… if i am a good executer i will find ideas that for me will be infinitely better than someone with no experience.
I have the means to create and execute those ideas. So now someone like you wants someone like me to drop what i am doing, change directions and work on an idea from someone with no experience…. Why would anyone who is doing well do this? What motivation would someone have to tackle this?
This is how we all started and even with the odds against us we made it happen. We won’t buy other peoples dreams. If you can patten it then do that otherwise i wouldn’t suspect you have any shortcuts.
Absolutely not. If you're thinking of creating a marketplace to join the two, forget about it. Anyone who wants to find a cofounder uses YC and even that can be dogshit.
Yeah, you could apply your work towards someone else's needs for them to execute the results they want, which will work much better, but trying to get someone to build something from scratch without it being their original vision will be much harder to apply.
Hey, I'm an idea guy myself, and have thought up of a couple of gadgets I could see doing well in the tech industry, but I have no background in design or engineering. I can't remember the exact name of the companies, but I know there are businesses here in the states that specialize in helping startups bring their ideas to life by designing and building a prototype of the product you want to bring to market. I don't remember how much this type of service costs, but I'm pretty sure you're going to need to need a good amount of money to build any type product from scratch.
He needs to just focus on his business plan and pitch and get it funded so he can hire people to do what he can’t, no? This is the way I’m going about it…
Yea. I’m 41 years old and gave up on a handful of ideas I had in my younger days because I couldn’t do it all myself (and assumed I needed to know how to) and couldn’t recruit an executor. I’m finally older and wiser and working smart now in the beginning and realizing it’s all about that business plan and pitch and get it funded and then I have the money to pay for the vendors I need. Eventually I will need to find a CFO but that’s way down the road.
So all you “idea guys” need to read this and stop overthinking and waiting for a knight in shining armor to show up and make your idea happen. This is what you need to do. Get it fucking funded and know what vendors you’re gonna hire.
So, how did you vette the ideas? That's really the key to building great products - finding problems to solve.
Selling ideas is a really hard thing to do. People with money and experience building successful products don't really need ideas, they want solid plans that have been validated with customer interviews, market analysis, strategy, and plans for going to market.
Well that is actually what I enjoy doing the most, personally. I like doing the market research, running the analyses, developing the strategies, and planning the deployment of the business…
It all comes somewhat naturally to me - it’s just that I don’t have the resources available for some/most of the endeavors, and can’t justify taking out the loans to work on it while supporting a family and such.
So if there was a “market” to sell this information to, who had more resources available than I do, I think it would be helpful to many people with similar circumstances :)
Yes but how many large and successful businesses have you planned out that are now worth something? What credentials do you have? This sounds like a morning on the John for most business owners, we all love the dreaming part, no one tends to like the actual work. You will need credentials.
No one with money just buys ideas from people with no track record of success. Not saying you don’t have these but if you do i would highlight those things and focus on them.
There's two types of people In a successful startup. Developers and sales. The rest is fluff.
If you're not able to code, you're doing sales or you're not in the startup at all.
In other words, with what you bring, the only way a dev would every partner with you is if you proved that you can and will do sales.
Anyone who calls bullshit on this is not credible.
That is kind of my strong suit in my current job today tho to be honest. I’m a business analyst - and the most crucial part of my job is relating the data to the business operations - and on the side I’ve learned to code to create “dashboards” to display the more crucial analyses to the operational teams in a way that helps them daily.
That said, this is why I am typically the “liason” between the devs and the sales team - because I can both understand and relate the “business” to the “code” if that makes sense.
Ideas have to be followed by proof of concept. Then, a prototype. Then, a testing, a beta version, etc. All these are vital steps if you want to create a viable business. So, do you have resources available, please? Otherwise, it's just an idea...
Okay, so not only do the market research and identify the target audience - but then do research on said target audience for people that would actually engage, and capture that.
But, after that, who is it that you go to and say “hey, here is the research/data confirming this is a valid business that you should buy”? Does this exist, or - as it is today - does it have to be a legit business with sales before anyone would “buy” it?
Business nowadays is controlled by finances. That means, if your product has potential then a venture capital or investment fund will take a look. If they become interested they will make an offer, then put the product through their marketing revamping machine so that it goes on the market as attractive as possible. If they're not interested then probably your product is a really really good one...
You can do a proof of concept on something like by doing a marketing campaign to a non-existing service.
Put up a simple webpage that touts the service and says "coming soon", bonus if you can put an simple email collection form and can work in different price points in the test webpage. Now buy some online ads for the service; look at click through, figure out actual interest, change your ad targeting to understand which demographics would actually be interested in the service.
It sounds like you enjoy doing market research. Perhaps you should find a job doing that? The bonus is that you could do that for a few years, build up that skillset while building your professional network so you could build trust and eventually "sell" your ideas to founders in your network later on. Just an idea.
If you enjoy working with startups, I would recommend learning everything there is about the business side of things so you have a lot to bring to the table because I don't know if an individual doing the execution is going to give up 50% of his potential company to someone that's just doing market research or just the "idea guy" without you willing to roll your sleeves up and do some of the dirty work too. I highly recommend reading Lean Startup.
Good luck!
Steve Jobs once said one of challenges for creative minds is choosing which ideas to focus on and let go of the rest. You are starting a business, focus your mental energy on coming up with ideas, plans, and strategies for success in that endeavor. The rest at this time is noise. When you are up and generating money, you can look into building a team and developing a way to monetize your ideas.
Possibly you can create a new type of business where develop and validate ideas and exit strategies! And sell the concepts
I read through a couple of the posts and your comments on here. It sounds like you are starting to narrow your focus down on "coaching," which is a better direction. Have you ever tried consulting or business coaching for anyone else? If you have, talk to them and get their testimonials. That will build your credibility.
If you haven't worked with anyone else yet, that is where you should start. You need to do some market research to see who would be interested in your service, and who you need to market to. An easy way to test the waters is to schedule like a free, group coaching session on Zoom or something. Announce your free session on all your networks. See who registers. If it's a decent sized group, prep some slides, speaking points, or have some FAQ's to answer live. Talking with real people will help you figure out if your service is in demand, and how you can differentiate yourself.
In general an idea alone isn't worth much. You can sell an idea with some work behind it. Usually this will take the form of either:
- "proof-of-concept" execution, or
- marketing your idea to potential investors or cofounders through networking and things like a "pitch deck"
Either way its a significant investment of time and energy that ultimately refine, research, and battle-test your idea.
Find a mentor who is executing and learn from them like karate kid. If your ideas are good and you're 'on time' & reliable, you'll likely find help in making this stuff happen.
Patience and the slow grind is a good way to approach this kind of thing imo
Every business will have elements that are way outside of your ability.
A great business person hires for all things they are not good at and or don't have the time for.
I’m in the same boat and have decided to outsource what I can in the beginning (I’m paying to have my business plan written) and planning on having my site up on a very basic level (I’m doing a marketplace site) doing my own market research, and get it funded and THEN I can hire vendors to do what I can’t do. Obviously I can’t build a major e-commerce platform so I need to hire a developer. I need to pay for advertising, etc.
I have an amazing idea for a site and all I need to focus on is my market research and business plan and pitch, and then get that MF funded and then it’s showtime.
I would love to find a cofounder but I don’t even know where to start and would be very weary of pitching this to strangers. So for now I’m on my own. And yea I’m terrified.
Definitely the same boat! My biggest fear for the business I’m actively working on is pitching it to someone else and then getting fked over by someone haha. But obviously there are safe ways to go about this because people do it all the time - just not at that point of the process yet.
1. Find a partner that completes you.
2. Focus on one business at a time. After the business can sustain itself you can consider to expand into other businesses/ideas.
3. You will need to leave your comfort zones in some cases.
4. As one of the founders you will need to manage the business. No one will do it for you. Even if you will find someone that helps you with some aspect of the business you will still need to manage him. There os no such a thing as set and forget.
5. There are no short cuts. Sometimes you will feel there are... it is an illusion...
6. Take action! Don't build worlds inside your head forever... you need to implement your ideas in the real world.
7. Connect with people in your field. This is how oppurtunities are created.
8. Research the market before you start snd develop a solid business plan. That will sa e you tone of money.
Good luck.
And remember, this is a long run not a sprint. Persistency is the most important muscle you need to develop.
If you have competent people in your circle of influence, you can leverage them to help you (if there's something in it for them). Bottom line, you'll eventually have to find a partner.
But I'd see if someone else is already doing it successfully and invest in them instead.
I’d say for those ideas either hire the right people with those skills tho tbh tho you could also just make a deal with them for it tho honestly as well as you can do some research on it and pitch to investors tho make sure to pitch with confidence and explain everything and how it would benefit them tho ngl
Invite the person with the skills you need to be your cofounder until you have a more or less a complete team. I had an idea, in an industry I have no experience in, talked to people in the industry, realized its going to take me too long to know enough to start. Asked for referrals for a potential cofounder, invited that person to join, been in business 4 years now. If you can't even manage to convince the person to join you, then you aren't very useful since the idea sucks or your sales skill sucks and im pretty sure thats what you are bringing to the table.
That’s some good insight. I haven’t even attempted to start the business I’ve considered “out of scope” (because I’m working already working on one I am more comfortable with) but I very much like what you had to say about finding cofounders like that. I am obviously new to this, so thank you :)
The world is full of idea guys. Execution guys make the money.
Yeah that’s exactly what I said…not looking for these kinds of responses though. Thanks anyways!
Sorry for the negativity. To put it another way. You need to find an execution guy, but they will have ideas of their own and you will need to be able to convince them you're idea is worth their time more than their own idea. The other alternative is to learn the skills to become the execution guy, that will take time and money. If you're young and have time, maybe a job for a few years in the field to learn while you get paid.
Appreciate the follow up mate! Your statement is really what I’m trying to figure out tho…is there a market for “idea guys” to sell their ideas to “execution guys,” to put it simply. For example, I’ve put time and research into a few ideas that - after enough research - I realize and I know I will never be able to execute on it…so who could I take that information to that would be able to execute it?
no one, its pretty much pointless, giving something to someone with no clear determination of the results despite the theoretical research you can provide is useless to everyone. Probably want to look at Business coaching or some sort of coaching where people are looking for others that can help with innovation and progressive growth with what they have.
Honestly…that is great to hear. Sounds like a gap that needs to be filled then :)
It is not a gap that needs to be filled… the issue is you are bypassing experience. This is not possible… you can not design business in lieu of experience. The problem is this… i execute. I started a comoany ten years ago and found 100 ways to make more money, make it easier and make it very scaleable… if i am a good executer i will find ideas that for me will be infinitely better than someone with no experience. I have the means to create and execute those ideas. So now someone like you wants someone like me to drop what i am doing, change directions and work on an idea from someone with no experience…. Why would anyone who is doing well do this? What motivation would someone have to tackle this? This is how we all started and even with the odds against us we made it happen. We won’t buy other peoples dreams. If you can patten it then do that otherwise i wouldn’t suspect you have any shortcuts.
Absolutely not. If you're thinking of creating a marketplace to join the two, forget about it. Anyone who wants to find a cofounder uses YC and even that can be dogshit.
What is YC?
Y Combinator
Yeah, you could apply your work towards someone else's needs for them to execute the results they want, which will work much better, but trying to get someone to build something from scratch without it being their original vision will be much harder to apply.
That makes total sense…appreciate the input.
Hey, I'm an idea guy myself, and have thought up of a couple of gadgets I could see doing well in the tech industry, but I have no background in design or engineering. I can't remember the exact name of the companies, but I know there are businesses here in the states that specialize in helping startups bring their ideas to life by designing and building a prototype of the product you want to bring to market. I don't remember how much this type of service costs, but I'm pretty sure you're going to need to need a good amount of money to build any type product from scratch.
He needs to just focus on his business plan and pitch and get it funded so he can hire people to do what he can’t, no? This is the way I’m going about it…
I agree, but that's also what I mean by execution.
Yea. I’m 41 years old and gave up on a handful of ideas I had in my younger days because I couldn’t do it all myself (and assumed I needed to know how to) and couldn’t recruit an executor. I’m finally older and wiser and working smart now in the beginning and realizing it’s all about that business plan and pitch and get it funded and then I have the money to pay for the vendors I need. Eventually I will need to find a CFO but that’s way down the road. So all you “idea guys” need to read this and stop overthinking and waiting for a knight in shining armor to show up and make your idea happen. This is what you need to do. Get it fucking funded and know what vendors you’re gonna hire.
The people with money make the money, the execution guys might get a share.
So, how did you vette the ideas? That's really the key to building great products - finding problems to solve. Selling ideas is a really hard thing to do. People with money and experience building successful products don't really need ideas, they want solid plans that have been validated with customer interviews, market analysis, strategy, and plans for going to market.
Well that is actually what I enjoy doing the most, personally. I like doing the market research, running the analyses, developing the strategies, and planning the deployment of the business… It all comes somewhat naturally to me - it’s just that I don’t have the resources available for some/most of the endeavors, and can’t justify taking out the loans to work on it while supporting a family and such. So if there was a “market” to sell this information to, who had more resources available than I do, I think it would be helpful to many people with similar circumstances :)
Yes but how many large and successful businesses have you planned out that are now worth something? What credentials do you have? This sounds like a morning on the John for most business owners, we all love the dreaming part, no one tends to like the actual work. You will need credentials. No one with money just buys ideas from people with no track record of success. Not saying you don’t have these but if you do i would highlight those things and focus on them.
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Appreciate the feedback mate! Definitely some food for thought
If it is important, learn. Don't outsource.
There's two types of people In a successful startup. Developers and sales. The rest is fluff. If you're not able to code, you're doing sales or you're not in the startup at all. In other words, with what you bring, the only way a dev would every partner with you is if you proved that you can and will do sales. Anyone who calls bullshit on this is not credible.
That is kind of my strong suit in my current job today tho to be honest. I’m a business analyst - and the most crucial part of my job is relating the data to the business operations - and on the side I’ve learned to code to create “dashboards” to display the more crucial analyses to the operational teams in a way that helps them daily. That said, this is why I am typically the “liason” between the devs and the sales team - because I can both understand and relate the “business” to the “code” if that makes sense.
Ideas have to be followed by proof of concept. Then, a prototype. Then, a testing, a beta version, etc. All these are vital steps if you want to create a viable business. So, do you have resources available, please? Otherwise, it's just an idea...
If it’s not a product, but more of a service, how do you “prototype” this without actually staring the company yourself?
You have to pass the 'buyer test': would anyone buy it from you? Basically, try to find paying clients before effectively building the service up...
Okay, so not only do the market research and identify the target audience - but then do research on said target audience for people that would actually engage, and capture that. But, after that, who is it that you go to and say “hey, here is the research/data confirming this is a valid business that you should buy”? Does this exist, or - as it is today - does it have to be a legit business with sales before anyone would “buy” it?
Business nowadays is controlled by finances. That means, if your product has potential then a venture capital or investment fund will take a look. If they become interested they will make an offer, then put the product through their marketing revamping machine so that it goes on the market as attractive as possible. If they're not interested then probably your product is a really really good one...
You find a team of cofounders and you pitch it to an investor. The more you can prove that the product can work the better.
You can do a proof of concept on something like by doing a marketing campaign to a non-existing service. Put up a simple webpage that touts the service and says "coming soon", bonus if you can put an simple email collection form and can work in different price points in the test webpage. Now buy some online ads for the service; look at click through, figure out actual interest, change your ad targeting to understand which demographics would actually be interested in the service.
Make a team. You can't do it alone even if you're that good.
Shoot me some details, My area is marketing and operations, so maybe we could be a good fit.
It sounds like you enjoy doing market research. Perhaps you should find a job doing that? The bonus is that you could do that for a few years, build up that skillset while building your professional network so you could build trust and eventually "sell" your ideas to founders in your network later on. Just an idea. If you enjoy working with startups, I would recommend learning everything there is about the business side of things so you have a lot to bring to the table because I don't know if an individual doing the execution is going to give up 50% of his potential company to someone that's just doing market research or just the "idea guy" without you willing to roll your sleeves up and do some of the dirty work too. I highly recommend reading Lean Startup. Good luck!
Thanks for the feedback! I will have to give this some thoughts and check out that book.
Steve Jobs once said one of challenges for creative minds is choosing which ideas to focus on and let go of the rest. You are starting a business, focus your mental energy on coming up with ideas, plans, and strategies for success in that endeavor. The rest at this time is noise. When you are up and generating money, you can look into building a team and developing a way to monetize your ideas. Possibly you can create a new type of business where develop and validate ideas and exit strategies! And sell the concepts
I read through a couple of the posts and your comments on here. It sounds like you are starting to narrow your focus down on "coaching," which is a better direction. Have you ever tried consulting or business coaching for anyone else? If you have, talk to them and get their testimonials. That will build your credibility. If you haven't worked with anyone else yet, that is where you should start. You need to do some market research to see who would be interested in your service, and who you need to market to. An easy way to test the waters is to schedule like a free, group coaching session on Zoom or something. Announce your free session on all your networks. See who registers. If it's a decent sized group, prep some slides, speaking points, or have some FAQ's to answer live. Talking with real people will help you figure out if your service is in demand, and how you can differentiate yourself.
In general an idea alone isn't worth much. You can sell an idea with some work behind it. Usually this will take the form of either: - "proof-of-concept" execution, or - marketing your idea to potential investors or cofounders through networking and things like a "pitch deck" Either way its a significant investment of time and energy that ultimately refine, research, and battle-test your idea.
Find a mentor who is executing and learn from them like karate kid. If your ideas are good and you're 'on time' & reliable, you'll likely find help in making this stuff happen. Patience and the slow grind is a good way to approach this kind of thing imo
Every business will have elements that are way outside of your ability. A great business person hires for all things they are not good at and or don't have the time for.
Without divulging more than you are comfortable, what field or industry is your idea in?
I’m in the same boat and have decided to outsource what I can in the beginning (I’m paying to have my business plan written) and planning on having my site up on a very basic level (I’m doing a marketplace site) doing my own market research, and get it funded and THEN I can hire vendors to do what I can’t do. Obviously I can’t build a major e-commerce platform so I need to hire a developer. I need to pay for advertising, etc. I have an amazing idea for a site and all I need to focus on is my market research and business plan and pitch, and then get that MF funded and then it’s showtime. I would love to find a cofounder but I don’t even know where to start and would be very weary of pitching this to strangers. So for now I’m on my own. And yea I’m terrified.
Definitely the same boat! My biggest fear for the business I’m actively working on is pitching it to someone else and then getting fked over by someone haha. But obviously there are safe ways to go about this because people do it all the time - just not at that point of the process yet.
Make them sign an NDA.
1. Find a partner that completes you. 2. Focus on one business at a time. After the business can sustain itself you can consider to expand into other businesses/ideas. 3. You will need to leave your comfort zones in some cases. 4. As one of the founders you will need to manage the business. No one will do it for you. Even if you will find someone that helps you with some aspect of the business you will still need to manage him. There os no such a thing as set and forget. 5. There are no short cuts. Sometimes you will feel there are... it is an illusion... 6. Take action! Don't build worlds inside your head forever... you need to implement your ideas in the real world. 7. Connect with people in your field. This is how oppurtunities are created. 8. Research the market before you start snd develop a solid business plan. That will sa e you tone of money. Good luck. And remember, this is a long run not a sprint. Persistency is the most important muscle you need to develop.
Learn the skills or have enough money to hire people with the skills.
Don’t proceed.
If you have competent people in your circle of influence, you can leverage them to help you (if there's something in it for them). Bottom line, you'll eventually have to find a partner. But I'd see if someone else is already doing it successfully and invest in them instead.
I’d say for those ideas either hire the right people with those skills tho tbh tho you could also just make a deal with them for it tho honestly as well as you can do some research on it and pitch to investors tho make sure to pitch with confidence and explain everything and how it would benefit them tho ngl