The First Question Entrepreneurs Should Ask Before Starting a Business
That eureka moment of having a great business idea pop into your head is pure bliss. Even if it’s only for the short time until you google the concept and find out it’s already being done by some obscure entrepreneur on the other side of the country. If you’re like me, business ideas come and go daily like hunger pains in between an early lunch and a late dinner. The challenge is filtering myself and knowing when to hold’em and when to fold’em.
I partially resolved this challenge several years back when I read a blog post written by serial entrepreneur and founder of Atlanta Tech Village, David Cummings. In this post he discusses a simple question he asked an entrepreneur pitching an idea to him:
“Is your product like candy, vitamins, or pain-killers for your market?“
The usefulness of this question never gets old. In theory, if your product is candy, your potential customers will be able to take it or leave it with nothing gained or lost either way. If it’s like a vitamin, it’s not a necessary but could offer real improvements to their life. Finally, if your product is a pain-killer, it’s a must have that your potential customers won’t want to live without.
Continuing with this train of thought, if you come up with a candy or vitamin idea, it’s unlikely that angel investors will invest. You will have to bootstrap these types of ideas on your own until you can prove there’s a real market. However, if you come up with an idea that’s a true pain-killer, the sky is the limit (or as Michael Jordan once said, “the ceiling is the roof”).