Implementation is more important than idea
June 12th, 2006 by Dave Cheong
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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Do something you love doing and admire
June 11th, 2006 by Dave Cheong
So far, I’ll written two related posts - one about good patterns and the other about enlisting support from family and friends. Now, I’d like to introduce you to another key in my goal of transitioning from Software Engineer to Entrepreneur.
I title this post “Do something you love doing and admire”. In my goal to become an Entrepreneur, I know I need to look for ideas or projects that play to my interests and strengths. My strengths are clearly technical related - I am educated as an Electrical Engineer and make my living doing Java J2EE software development projects. It follows that my new business startup will be technology related - probably a web service of some sort - because that plays nicely to my strengths.
As for interests, these vary across the spectrum. Apart from being my job, I’m also passionate about technology. I actually enjoy coding and designing nice user interfaces. It’s hard to explain if you do not share the same interest in software development but try to apply it to something you are passionate about. For me, it feels great when a web page I’m working on is displaying the right set of values retrieved from the database. It feels great when my code is clean, succinct, easy to understand and structured correctly. It feels great when another developer uses my code and it “just works”. It feels great when a business user comes to me and tell me they love what I’ve “done to the page”.
This, I think, is part of the key. Do something you love doing. I know this isn’t a completely novel idea but it’s true nonetheless and doesn’t make it less important. If you do what you love, then you’re more likely to be better at it. Why? You’ll spend more time at it. You’ll read up about it in your spare time. You think about it when you’re on the train. You talk about it with your friends at the pub.
Doing something you love doing is very important. However, it’s only 1/2 of the key. Paul Graham has an excellent post which you should read if you have the time. His post talks about “How to do what you love“. In that post he makes a good point about doing what you admire. That I believe is the second 1/2 of the key.
You have to do something you admire.
Some people may do something they love but they do not admire it. For example, an accountant may love the repetitiveness of their work. They love the fact that each day is consistent and they can leave at 5:30pm without fail. They love the fact that if they follow a process, there are never any surprises. They may even love the fact that things balance and are accounted for every time. Sure, they love what they do. But do they admire accounting? Please don’t get me wrong, they may admire accounting and I’m not saying it is a lack lustre line of work at all. I’m only using it as an example.
Why do you have to admire what you do or the people doing it? If you only love what you do (and not admire it), then you may end up doing the wrong thing. Huh? Let me explain.
Firstly, you could stagnate. If there is nothing to admire, why change? What’s the incentive to become better? If you love accounting, but do not have an accountant you admire and aspire to be, what is your incentive to be better than you are now? Do you want to stay being an accountant as you are now forever?
Secondly, it may not be the best thing for you to be doing. Paul Graham talks briefly about it in his post. When compared to spending time on a boat on the Carribbean or playing on the Xbox, how can work possibly stack up? Well, it can’t of course. But spending time on a boat or playing on the Xbox are not the best things you can do in the long run. The key I believe is we don’t admire being on a boat or playing on the Xbox. We may love doing these things but we don’t necessarily admire them.
So do something you love doing and admire. Look to the heroes in your industry and aspire to be like them. I am fortunate enough to not just love what I do but I also have heroes I aspire to be more like. These heroes have made the successful transition from being just a Software Engineer. Now, they run their own businesses, create products and services they are passionate about and are ultimately masters of their own destinies. This is worth admiring.
What do you admire most about what you do? Can you name your heroes? Is there something or someone you aspire to be?
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Enlist your family and friends in your cause
June 11th, 2006 by Dave Cheong
In my previous post, I wrote about developing positive patterns. If you have a goal you wish to accomplish or something you wish to change, you need to establish good patterns and surround yourself with aids that would encourage, support and motivate you. The more worthwhile the goal, the more difficult the journey and the bigger the role good patterns will play in determining whether you succeed or not.
For me, my goal is to transition from being just a Software Engineer to an Entrepreneur. A positive pattern is setting up this blog. The act of writing about this transition process - thoughts, actions and results - is an affirmative act and commitment. I am acknowledging to my sub-conscious this is a goal I really wish to accomplish so start allocating some brain cycles to coming up with a solution.
Another positive pattern is to let your family and friends know about your goal. For most of us, we’d like to follow through on a promise. If we make our family and friends aware of our goal, they can provide us with incentives to try and succeed. After all, we don’t want to let them down. It’s the same with this blog. When you (my readers) become emotionally attached to my cause and you have dedicated time to reading my posts, it gives me a strong incentive to follow through. The next time the alarm rings at 5:30am and I’m convincing myself to stay in bed for just another 10 mins, I’ll know what I’ll be thinking about.
So, stop and think about that. Try to establish those positive patterns. If you have close family and friends you can count on to help and motivate you, then set aside some time with them to explain what you’re trying to accomplish. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how supportive they can be.
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