The process of developing business idea is not a simple process. Some people just come to a bunch of business ideas, but some really are without ideas. There are two problems:
- First is the excessive generation of ideas and that can make forever to remain dreaming stage and
- Second is when we don’t have ideas and want to become entrepreneurs.
The most optimal way is to have a systematic approach in generating and selecting business ideas that will be transferred in real business. Here are some basic but important questions that can lead us through the process of business idea development:
Making a Framework
This is the first step of the process where we must make a framework for the next steps. Everything that will be out of that framework will not be included in the next steps of the process. This step is more about us as future entrepreneurs. The questions that we must answer are:
- Is entrepreneurial life that I really want to life?
- Am I psychologically prepared for business startup?
- What are my goals for the future?
- How much I want to earn after several years?
- How will be started my business solo or with a team of people?
- How much money I have for startup?
- How much money my partners have for startup?
- How much I can spend on business startup?
- How long I can persist before the business start generating money?
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is the process of generating ideas where it is not looked into the quality of an idea only on the quantity. In Wikipedia:
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique designed to generate a large number of ideas for the solution of a problem.
Before starting this step it is better to prepare a business idea book where we can note all business ideas that will generate. (You can download a business idea book template.) Answering the questions will give us some possible directions where we can find business ideas.
- What is my crucial knowledge?
- What can I work from my knowledge?
- Can I sell something related to my knowledge?
- How my knowledge can improve the world?
- What is my previous experience?
- What can I work from my previous experience?
- Can I sell something from my previous experience?
- How my previous experience can improve the world?
- What are my crucial skills?
- What can I work from my skills?
- Can I sell something related to my skills?
- How my skills can improve the world?
- What problems exist on the markets that are related to my knowledge?
- What problems exist on the markets that are related to my experience?
- What problems exist on the markets that are related to my skills?
- What are my hobbies?
- Can I transfer some of my hobbies into business?
- What can I improve in my hobbies?
- What is the current market practice on the market related to my knowledge and can I improve it?
- What is the current market practice on the market related to my experience and can I improve it?
- What is the current market practice on the market related to my skills and can I improve it?
Selecting the Best Business Idea
This step is simply selecting the best business idea from the bunch of business ideas generated in previous step – brainstorming. The purpose of this step is to find one or several ideas that will continue in the next steps.
- Can I exclude some ideas generated in the previous step?
- Is there ideas that are not compatible with my answers in the first step – framework?
- What must be checked in ideas that were generated?
- What is the opinion of my friends about the rest of business ideas?
- What is the opinion of my previous colleagues about the rest of ideas?
- What is the opinion of the market experts that I know about the rest of ideas?
- What is my personal opinion about the rest of ideas?
- What is the one or several business idea that received biggest amount of votes from previous questions in this step?
Researching
The fourth step is making the research about selected business idea or ideas from previous step. Here is needing broader audiences that must be included in our analysis. One of the tools that we can use it, here are surveys.
- Do I have capabilities to implement that ideas?
- What is expected reaction from the market about that ideas?
- What amount of money the market is willing to pay about product or service from the idea?
- Do market will have a strong desire for something like my ideas?
- How much will cost me the product or service?
- What will be appropriate price for product or service?
- Is that price that market is willing to pay?
- Can I make a prototype?
- If I make a prototype what is the opinion of our potential customers – people that we include in our previous steps and here?
- What is the feedback from testing a prototype?
- Can I make adjustments according to feedback from previous question?
- Can I start after adjustments?
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