Choosing & Vetting A Business Idea (FS008)

Are you like the thousands we’ve heard from, worried and anxious about choosing a business idea?

Maybe you have analysis paralysis and can’t choose which one is best. Or maybe you don’t think you can come up with a business idea.

It’s a big decision. It typically brings with it a hefty dose of anxiety and worry, two things that hinder any entrepreneur’s ability to do good work.

So we dive into it in this episode, digging in, sharing our stories, giving our best advice.

Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.

I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way — although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do.”

Kurt Vonnegut

Corbett’s Vetting List

1. Demand — is it something people want?
2. Competition — who else is doing it? Are they successful?
3. Care — how much personal interest do you have in this topic?
4. Expertise — how much do you know about this topic?
5. Specificity — how broad or narrow will your lens on this topic be?
6. Differentiation — how will you differentiate yourself from others in this market?
7. Likability of Customers — do you like them now? Will you like them later?
8. Can/Will They Pay — do they have moneys and will they share those moneys with you to solve this problem you’re helping them with?
9. Lifestyle — if this became successful, what would your life look like? Would this be a 200 person company? A single laptop on a beach? Does that fit with your personal goals?

Chase’s Checklist

1. Care — what do you want to exist in the world?
2. Serve — it might be the devil, or it might be the lord, but you’re gonna serve someone. (We don’t work for ourselves, we work for our audience. More on this in episode 007, Can You Entrepreneur? What it Takes).
3. Dig In — stick around and have a long-term view. You’re gonna be a big deal in 15 years.

Show Notes

Ideas are just a multiplier of execution | Derek Sivers

Father Apprentice – Make the most of fatherhood

“Creating wealth is not a zero-sum game, so you don’t have to stab people in the back to win.” ~ Paul Graham

Seth Godin’s Startup School podcast on Earwolf

tiny ceramic unicornzzz dot biz

Scott’s Bass Lessons – Online Bass Lessons

Green Exam Academy – FREE Online LEED AP Exam Study Guide – this is Pat Flynn’s LEED exam study guide we mention in the conversation.

Rickshaw Bagworks, San Francisco

Decision-matrix method – Wikipedia

Larry Halpern – he’s the Derek David of blogging.

Tiny Ceramic Unicornzzz