If you’re an entrepreneur, your whole existence centers on taking an idea from concept to reality.
That’s easier said than done, however. It takes determination, grit, sweat, and savvy to take a concept from ideation to development of a minimally viable product (MVP), investment, achievement of product-market fit (PMF), and launch of the resulting market-ready product. Here’s what you need to know about the process.
It all begins with an idea
Ideation is the generation of a concept for an innovative product or service that can fill an unmet need in the market. A new idea might emerge from noting a problem in search of a solution—something you’ve personally struggled with or some other problem that’s come to your attention, either at work or in your personal life. You can also brainstorm new ideas alone or in collaboration with others; sometimes two (or more) minds are better than one. It’s also possible to use a market research firm to help come up with viable ideas through data-driven insights into what customers want and need.
Be wary of solutions to nonexistent problems; no matter how cool your idea may sound, it needs to solve a real problem for real people in the real world.
Be SMART
Prior to beginning the development phase, you’ll need to establish a clear vision of what success will look like for you. Let the SMART schematic help out here: Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable using means actually available to you, relevant to your desired broader plans, and time-bound by defined deadlines. It’s impossible to turn an idea into reality without a specific goal, because that’s the focal point you’ll be working toward. A SMART goal helps your organize your next steps.
Plan in reverse
Plenty of experts advise working backward to go forward. After you’ve come up with an idea and created specific, actionable goals to make it a reality, you’re ready to plan the trajectory toward these achievements—just in reverse.
Starting from the end result will make the optimum pathways to getting there more obvious, and will cut through vagueness by narrowing down to only the most realistic options, as opposed to the many that may appear when you plan chronologically forward. You’ll be able to more easily fit one piece of your idea and execution into another if you build your structure back from the final goal.
Develop your MVP step-by-step
You’ll need to arrange your goals into a series of achievable steps, in order to keep yourself on track and avoid becoming overwhelmed. Build into your SMART goals a set of milestone checkpoints along the way as you test and verify your initial hypothesis and use that to create a minimally viable product.
Start with the most basic and inexpensive MVP that demonstrates proof-of-concept, incorporates the key value you want to offer your customers, and uses the most user-friendly channels to reach and engage them.
You’ll also want to define a series of steps as you test that MVP and use the feedback received to work out design flaws and enhance its usefulness. It’s essential to list and prioritize specific tasks that will support each of these steps.
Keep in mind that especially at this stage, you’re focused on what American startup expert Eric Ries calls the repeating “Build-Measure-Learn” cycle.
Abandon the quest for perfection
As you build, measure, and learn to work out your idea’s development in the world, it’s tempting to get caught up in the search for perfection. But insistence on perfection is the enemy of action. That way lies frustration, disappointment, and squandered resources.
Insistence on perfection can lead to procrastination, anxiety, and paralysis as you pursue something that fundamentally doesn’t exist. Break yourself out of that cycle by dedicating your efforts to doing what you can do and what’s possible in the moment.
Focus on action: doing the work, learning from mistakes you make along the way, and continuing on without getting hung up on achieving anyone’s idea of “perfection.”
Get investors – then get more
Your next step will be to look for external funders. Just remember that any venture-backed startup company will revisit the need for investment multiple times over its development and market life cycle—investment isn’t just a “one and done” process.
You may be looking for support from venture capital firms whose primary goal is to make a profit, or from angel investors who don’t necessarily need the money, but who are seeking to enhance enterprises they believe in. You can also connect with business accelerators, which offer early-stage entrepreneurs access to resources, networking opportunities, and investment connections they otherwise would struggle to attain. Government grants and funding schemes are other potential resources.
Find the Holy Grail of product-market fit
Like the MVP stage, product-market fit is a vital milestone toward getting from idea to reality. The basic concept here is that you want to enter a strong market by offering a product or service that satisfies key needs of consumers within that market.
How do you know when you’ve gotten there? You’ll be selling as quickly as you produce, you’ll see the need to expand operations to meet demand, and you’ll need a sales team to handle the traffic. You’ll start hearing from investors and business publications who want to talk with you.
Take your idea to market
Once you’re sure you’ve accomplished product-market fit, you’ll work on building out your go-to-market strategy. You’ll need to clearly determine price, customer acquisition and retention procedures, and the right channels to use for marketing and sales generation. That is, you’re at this stage trying to convert as many people as possible into long-term, enthusiastic customers. Here, you’ll be looking at metrics such as customer acquisition cost (CAC) versus lifetime value (LTV), an estimate of the long-term profits generated from customers’ interaction with your business.
Once you’ve established that your product or service is scalable, has achieved repeatable success, and is delivering a profit, you’ll be ready for further investment opportunities and growth.
Your idea in the arena
Do you have the next great idea for a product or service that will really change people’s lives? Keep in mind that a lot of people come up with good ideas. However, most don’t take the time or undertake the cost of developing their ideas into tangible products with real world value. Most people don’t have the courage to go beyond their comfort zones, and they don’t do the necessary preparation to make a good idea into an extraordinary new reality.
So if you want to get ahead of the competition, the most essential step is to just get out there and do it.