Raman, I've had a handful of (unsuccessful) startups, and here is a rough litmus test for evaluating new potential businesses that I've learned along the way.
1 - Is it solving a real problem (some really dumb ideas end up getting funded - take Klout for instance)? 2 - Is it solving a problem that should be solved (some things are hard because they need to be. If you started a school where everyone was guaranteed full marks on their exams, are you actually helping anybody?) 3 - Do you understand the market? Would you buy your own product? 4 - Does the business model play to your personal strengths (for example, I'm good at complex face-to-face sales, but would rather slit my wrists than make 100 cold calls a day - therefore any business model that relies on lots of cold calls is out for me) 5 - Can you build and test an MVP for <$5,000? If not, churning through ideas til you hit one that works is going to get really expensive Also, as a personal preference I prefer business models that are transactional and not reliant on advertising, and have recurring revenue. ie people come to the site because they want to buy something, and they keep coming back to buy more stuff without me having to do a whole lot. If it ticks all those boxes, give it a shot. -- Cheers, Ryan Wardell CEO & Founder - Cofounder Speed Date (W) cofounderspeeddate.com.au (E) r...@projectpowerup.com (M) 0424 591 796 [image: Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/cofounderspeeddate> [image: Twitter] <https://twitter.com/#%21/csdau> [image: LinkedIn]<http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwardell> On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Patrick Collins <pcolli...@gmail.com>wrote: > Raman, > As a rational person that feeling in your gut of getting incorrectly > married to a wonky idea is completely rational. In fact what is irrational > is how quickly people can "believe" in their idea with no market data to > support whether it will ever succeed. Not even basic testing. > > I made this post a while ago might and might satisfy the yearning for a > bit more structure around finding the right idea: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com/msg08326.html > > Patrick. > > > On 25 April 2012 00:50, Raman Biaroza <roman.berj...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hi guys. >> >> As new business is often very time/effort/money consumed venture - how >> do you choose what business idea to marry to? >> >> Is it a random pick, fortune, intuition or more scientific and thoughtful >> choice? >> >> Raman Biaroza >> The guy who is looking for the next idea to marry. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach >> Australia mailing list. Vist >> http://siliconbeachaustralia.**org<http://siliconbeachaustralia.org>for more >> >> Forum rules >> 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >> 2) No jobs postings. You can use >> http://siliconbeachaustralia.**org/jobs<http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs> >> >> >> To post to this group, send email to >> silicon-beach-australia@**googlegroups.com<silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> silicon-beach-australia+**unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<silicon-beach-australia%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/**group/silicon-beach-australia?**hl=en?hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en> >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
