You Have a Business Idea – What’s Next?

The business idea is a starting point for any current or future entrepreneurs. It is important because it is beginning of a new life – a life of a business and a life of an entrepreneur. But, the idea is most important only in that initial stage of startups. Their consequences will be felt in all other phases, but in large part will depend on other activities of an entrepreneur.

An average person always has some type of idea. It is the very nature of humans to dream about better life. However, ideas come and go from the brain of potential or current entrepreneurs. If we don’t want to allow the ideas to go from our brain, we can use the business idea’s book. The template of such a book you can download here.

Well, we have an idea and now the question is: what’s next? In this post, I can’t cover all entrepreneurial activities, but simply what you as an entrepreneur must undertake when you come with a good idea.

1. Define Products and Services

Every business relies on selling something. That something can be product or service. Until now you have an idea that obtains some type of product or service for your future or current business. The next thing that you must to do is define accurately and clearly those products or services. Questions that you as an entrepreneur will need to answer are:

• What product or service you will offer?
• What are the features of that product or service?
• What are the benefits for potential users of that product or service?
• What will be additional services offered by that product or service?

2. Define the Market

You already have an idea, and you already have defined the product or service that will be offered to the market. The next thing that you must to do is clearly, precisely and unambiguous define a market that will be served with these products or services. Here are some questions that you as an entrepreneur must answer:

• In which market you will offer that products and services (city, region, country, continent, …)?
• What will be the consumers of these products or services?
• What are the features of those consumers that will consume your products or services (sex, age, income, ethnicity …)?

3. Define Main Competitors

Next important element after the products, services and market are competitors. Do not make the mistake of underestimation of the competitors, because the success of your business in large part will depend on their performance. It is necessary precisely to define the main competitors who are already on the market that you previously defined. Here are some questions that you as an entrepreneur must answer:

• What are the 5 largest market players in the industry in which your business idea is categorized?
• What, where and how that 5 major market players offer their products and services?
• What are the features of their products or services?
• What are the benefits that they provide to the market with their products or services?
• What is the resistance of the market about entry of new competitors and how difficult it can be accomplished?

You can find more about defining main competitors in post titled as a How to Differentiate Yourself.

4. Define Resources

You already have an idea, have defined your products and services, have defined market where you will offer those products and services and have defined the major competitors, and what they do. Now it is time to define the necessary resources if you want your idea to become a reality. You will need to define a minimum the following:

• How many human resources will be needed?
• What kind of intellectual capital you will need for your business?
• How much financial resources is needed?
• Where you will find that financial resources?
• What material resources will be needed?
• Where you will find that material resources?
• What information resources will be needed?
• What will be the sources of that information resources?

After this What’s Next?

Always there will be something next because you are an entrepreneur that starts or expands business. Once you define these elements simply start again from scratch and adjust the product or service and market. This is because after the definition and understanding of competitors and needed resources you will have additional facts, which must be included in your offers to the market.

For example, after defining the competitors you will find something about what they make to sell to that market. You can simply copy their experience and improve it to gain competitive advantage. So, you have to redefine the first two elements.

At the end the most frequently entrepreneurial activity: take action.

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