Young African American business woman looking away in a thought against a background
Many young Batswana are ready and inspired to take on the world of entrepreneurship. In order to find startup success, you need a great business idea. But a winning business idea is more than just something you’re excited about or good at you have to make sure your idea is actually viable. Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before pursuing your business idea.
1. Will People Will Pay For It?
An idea is just an idea until you have a paying customer attached to it, Anyone can discredit a simple idea, but no one can discredit paying customers. It’s paying customers who validate an idea and determine which ones have the greatest chance for success.
2. Does It Solve A Problem?
The best business ideas are those that solve a problem in some way. If there is a problem that affects you, your friends, family, co-workers, etc., then the chances are high that it affects people you don’t know as well.
3. What’s Your Price Point?
Bare in mind that while there are many ways to solve problems, great business ideas do it in a way that is less expensive than what the market will endure. You need to determine not only the value that it delivers to the world, but what people would pay for that value. Once you determine the price, then you can assess if your solution is business-worthy or not.
4. Is There A Niche Market For It?
Without a large enough market, your business idea may never get off the ground, your business should cater to a strong niche market. Start by focusing on a niche market you know that can be served better. Make sure the market is large enough and that you can serve those customers better than the alternative.
5. Do You Have Passion?
Your business will likely take up all of your time, so make sure you’re passionate enough about it to make it successful. Since starting a business requires an inordinate amount of time, energy and patience, ideally, the idea will be one that you are passionate about, as well as one that you have skills or experience in.
6. Have You Tested Your Idea?
You won’t know if your business is viable until you test it on strangers. Test it, not just with friends who will be too polite to tell the truth, but with honest people who would make up your ideal target audience, and then listen to the feedback.
7. Are You Open To Advice?
If you’re not open to changing or adapting your idea to fit what your customers will want, your business idea might not be worth pursuing. Success happens when you are willing to listen and consider others’ advice.
8. How Will You Market Your Business?
Many entrepreneurs think about the problems their business will solve but not about how they intend to market their business to their target customers. Your marketing strategy can determine if your business idea is a good one.
9. Are You Being Realistic About Your Goals?
As excited as you may be about a new business idea, it’s important to stay grounded and be realistic about it. Just because you have a vision and decide to build it does not mean the rest will follow. Any new business case or new endeavor has to have a viable market that you believe you can sell now.
10. Does Your Idea Make Sense?
Your business may solve a complicated problem, but you should be able to explain it in simple terms so that anyone can understand it. When you think about your new business idea, ask yourself, ‘Can it pass the grandma test?’ In other words, would your grandma understand what you do?
