The biggest misconception of novice investors and startups sounds like this: I have a product idea and money; the rest I will outsource. This is unfortunately impossible, or rather it is a direct way to leave your idea unrealized and to spend money in vain. Why is this like that?
Versions of the “main misconception” depending on the maturity and entrepreneurial experience may sound like this: “I want to generate concepts and I need a team to implement them”, “I want to operate with ideas, and I’m tired of operational management and don’t want to go down to this level”, “I’m ready to pay for high-level specialists, not to delve into the details”.
In general, it sounds very attractive: I have already experience in business, I have earned money, I don’t want to do this dirty business anymore and I want specially trained people to do everything. But it won’t be like this.
Perhaps the most sensible explanation is that an idea is inseparable from implementation. The idea is cluttered with details and particulars in the process of implementation. In fact, the smallest details of the idea implementation are its direct continuation. Take for example the stories from the life of all great people – an idea that was born once, demanded great effort and flourished only after its implementation. Henry Ford has come a very long way from the idea of making a car before he made the “Model T”. Along the way, he had to solve very different problems and gain experience, without which he would not have become what he became and would not have done what he did. Steve Jobs personally managed the design of the iPhone and demanded the perfect performance in the smallest details, the first version was almost not workable and only in the process of solving all the difficulties managed to make a product that changed the rules of the game in the whole market.
In the modern world of “clone products,” very thoughtful, very detailed, very coolly implemented ideas win in the face of fierce competition.
Unfortunately, this is not possible without the energy of the founder. If the founder doesn’t want to invest effort and attention at an early stage of product creation, this product is waiting for the sad fate of never launched projects or “premature old age”, when the product is still launched, but didn’t start to make a profit, it slowly dies, devoid of support from its creator.
Adizes life cycle model
It may sound too philosophical, but there are quite logical explanations for this, the simplest of which is: in the initial stages of creating a product, no one knows “how to” and “what will work”. All existing design techniques, marketing research, and other tools only reduce the degree of risk but don’t eliminate it to zero. And there must be someone who will take decisions in the face of uncertainty. At the initial stages of the product life, such decisions need to be made a lot, some of them will be wrong, you need to respond to the situation and quickly change course. In the process of these “changes”, the original idea of the founder and acquires the necessary details that help it to organically integrate into the surrounding reality.
Therefore, whatever the experienced is a team, it needs a founder, his attention, his participation and his involvement in the project. It isn’t enough only money and the initial idea.
If you want to start a project to implement a new idea – think about whether this idea is important for you personally and whether you are ready to invest your soul in the realization. If this project isn’t for you, it is just a question of money – consider a less risky investment option, for example, in an already established team with an existing promising product – this can be a much higher return and less disappointment.
Well, if you understand that a new product is like a small child and at first it will require almost all of your strength and you need a technical partner involved in the process – then you and I have a lot in common, and this is a completely different story.