Let’s face it. Most startups fail. At the start of any venture, it is safe to say the founders are all passionate, committed and believe they have the necessary ingredients to create a successful business. Yet, why do so many fail? Is it the money? Is it the founders? What about their products? Do they add genuine value? Would you pay for it? Are they competing with Google or Microsoft?
The answer of course is it depends. Every startup has a different makeup and DNA. Some start with no money. Others raise multi-million dollars in venture capital. Some start with a single person. Others start with a team of 50. Some begin in a garage. Others on Level 17 of the most expensive skyscraper in the city.
So why do some succeed while others fail? I suspect the answer is different from startup to startup. Many factors, and sometimes several in combination, will contribute to the demise of a once promising business venture.
One thing I do know however, is the difference between the idea and the implementation. A startup can begin with a revolutionary idea but execute dismally. Another startup can begin with a mediocre idea but execute spectacularly. The startup which executes dismally will fail and the one which executes spectacularly will succeed.
It is the implementation not the idea which is important. You may have the best idea but if you cannot reach your customers or you cannot pay your bills, you will fail.
Contrary to what some IT professionals believe however, it is not the technology which ultimately determines the success or failure of a business. Sure, you may need the big machines, clustered application servers, replication, redundancy, security etc. You may also even have a better “framework” or a better “DAO layer”. However, when starting up, these factors are rarely the cause of a business failure. At the start, customers don’t care you can scale to accommodate 1,000,000 concurrent users or that your “framework” is more flexible than the competitor’s. What they do care is how your interface looks, how your product solves a genuine problem they have, how much it cost and whether there are substitutes out there.
Also, if you cannot stay in business long enough to establish yourself and penetrate the market, all the technology in the world isn’t going to save you. You may have the next world shattering idea (like the Browser), but if your competitors out compete you, you will fail (like the Browser wars). It doesn’t matter whether you came up with the idea first, it is how you execute which determines whether you stay in business.
If you are thinking about starting a new business, don’t worry too much about coming up with a unique idea. Unique ideas are hard to come by. It is also harder to convert users with a unique idea – you first have to educate and convince them. Look to existing ideas, observe how they are executed and seek out opportunities to innovate above and beyond what they have done. Remember, it is the implementation not idea which is important.
Kathy Sierra in a recent post talks more about this. In her post, she writes “Our success is not about what we think up, but rather who we think about“. Her dogma is the customer is all important and good usability is king. I agree with her.
In a similar post, Wil Schroter writes “Let your execution speak for itself“. Ultimately, you cannot protect your idea. Concentrate on your execution. You’re already on to a winner if you have an idea worth copying.
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June 13th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Dave,
Interesting blog so far. Would love to hear how your journey develops and more about technology entrepreneurship in Australia.
I thought you and your readers may be interested in the following Business 2.0 article. It’s very US-centric, but makes good fodder for discussion.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/startups/index.html
cheers,
ccm
June 15th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Hi ccm,
Thanks for your comment and link. I have read the article and have a few things to say about it. I’ll sum up my thoughts in a later post.
dave
June 16th, 2006 at 8:20 am
Another interesting read: The 37signals response to the Business 2.0 article, of which also relates to your article on Specific or General skills.
http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/
how_to_shoot_a_bullet_through_your_startup.php
Passion is another asset for the garage based business. Without money coming in as it is catching on it is pretty much a neccessity to avoid throwing in the towel.
June 22nd, 2006 at 1:07 am
Good piece so far … but what makes for a good implementation? Throw us a few bones, would ya?
June 22nd, 2006 at 3:35 am
Hi Dave!
Thanks for taking time to write on this topic. I’m currently involved in a software startup and our approach is to always
1. Deliver our services to the customer
2. Get the feedback or response from the customer using the services
3. Modify or improve the services based on that feedback or response
4. Deliver the improved version of the services to the customer
And that cycle loops until the feedback or response are the same for various customers. We don’t start perfectly, but we do try to achieve excellence on every cycle. Remember when they first built cars? They weren’t perfect at the time, they still aren’t perfect today, but for sure they’ve improved. Keep up the great writings,
Sincerely,
Brian
June 22nd, 2006 at 6:41 am
Nice article Dave and nice followup Brian.
The cycle Brian describes helps you focus your product/service and at the same time gains you an advocate. When you act on (sensible) customer feedback you gain an ally who is most likely to virally pass on the worth of your product.
Both of these advantages are points along the road of ’succesful implementation’.
Regards,
Dan
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:56 pm
[...] At the core, I believe all businesses need to create value. Although the implementation is key, it wouldn’t hurt to start with a good idea. A good idea is one which fulfills a genuine need and has a unique selling proposition. [...]
June 24th, 2006 at 2:05 am
Implementation is more important than idea
Let’s face it. Most startups fail. At the start of any venture, it is safe to say the founders are all passionate, committed and believe they have the necessary ingredients to create a successful business.
June 29th, 2006 at 4:32 am
[...] Starting this week I’ve decided to to post links to the top 7 articles (in no particular order) I find each week, hence the “Weekly 7″. Why 7? So that you can have at least one article to look at each day. So without further ado: Confessions of a Car Salesman A journalist goes undercover as a car salesman and tells us about his day to day experiences. Very informative and detailed. He really conveys the car salesman culture so that it’s more understandable to outsiders. Implementation is more important than idea Ideas are a dime a dozen, it’s the 99% perspiration (implementation) that will get you there. [...]
July 1st, 2006 at 9:22 am
in the dilema idea vs. Implementation the letter prevails simply because in the given choice the idea looks static but the implementation is dynamic or adjustable.
I think a successful startup has to analyze constantly the original idea and adjust it according to reality and new revealed truth. In this approach the original idea becomes partly the implementation itself.
August 25th, 2007 at 6:55 am
[...] Most of Asoboo’s current features are pretty standard fare, but its the implentation of these ideas that stands out, and the implementation always matters more than the idea. [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Implementation
Summarize Article. How does it apply to you as a future business person?