You can take an idea and turn it into a business in numerous ways. Most businesses, however, can be viewed from 3 separate perspectives:
- What is the product or service you offer?
- Who is your target market, and how do you sell your product/service to them?
- Have you minimized risks to allow you “freedom to operate” your business?
This framework is essential when thinking about the first step of taking your idea to the startup stage–where you must test each of these perspectives before you can exit the startup stage and actually become a full-fledged business.
You might find this simple whiteboard session helpful as you consider these three parts of your startup and ultimate business.
It really doesn’t matter which perspective you start from. However, where you start will depend, in part, on the information you already have and the end objective you’re trying to achieve. For example, if you’ve invented the next billion-dollar invention, then you’ll likely want to start validating your technology first, and begin to validate your market and minimize risks along the way. In contrast, if you’re not sure what product or service to sell, but you have an anxious market segment with lots of urgent gaps to be filled, then start validating your market first in order to help you determine what type of technology you can offer to solve a pressing need.
Either way, you need to minimize risks along the way–the odds are against startups from the get-go, so don’t let little risks at the beginning turn into major obstacles that prevent you from ever becoming an actual business. Things like protecting your technology, establishing confidential relationships, forming your business entity, setting up your team and team culture, and establishing relationships with critical suppliers and customers can be relatively simple to do correctly up front, but these can turn into nightmares if you have to fix them after they become a real problem.
As you work feverishly to get your idea off the ground, be responsible and work on all three of these perspectives simultaneously, even if one of them drives your decisions with the other perspectives.
Jeff Holman draws from a broad background that spans law, engineering, and business. He is driven to deploy strategic business initiatives that create enterprise value and establish operational efficiencies. Mr. Holman earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Utah and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Brigham Young University. He has practiced patent and intellectual property law in Silicon Valley, built and managed a law firm focused on IP transactions, helped “Shark Tank” inventors with legal and business strategy, and served as general counsel for the leading innovator for consumer electronics waterproofing technology–where he managed engagements with two Fortune 10 customers, provided key legal oversight related to $170 million in equity and debt funding, and oversees global IP strategy. Additionally, Mr. Holman is working with a development team at Intellectual Strategies to launch the first SAAS platform dedicated to IP strategy.