A very popular news these days is that Focus Media set up a new company on the Internet and named it Fox Communications. The domain name is the same as Focus’ existing domain name (www.focusmedia.cn). After reading this, I have to admire this person’s ideas and interpersonal relationships. (Mainly because I admire this person’s interpersonal relationships), let me talk about some of my views on entrepreneurial ideas.
"Entrepreneurship", in many people's imagination, is when two young men talk about an idea in a garage or a student dormitory, and then find an investor or VC. After a few words of explanation, the VC applauds. The decision was made on the spot within 10 minutes and 20 million US dollars was spent. Then the two young men recruited troops and worked overtime to launch the product and service. The result was an instant hit. Luoyang paper was expensive for a while, so the company went public. The two young men became millionaires overnight. Rich men, billionaires... Such things rarely happen in real life. If everyone had such luck when starting a business, no one would read the best-written stories in entrepreneurship magazines.
Starting a business is difficult. The most difficult thing is to start an idea. The idea that comes out of your head is worthless at all. The idea that can withstand scrutiny is only one in a hundred.
How do good entrepreneurial ideas come about? This mysterious process actually does not all happen in the brain. There is never a good idea that is perfectly generated in the brain and can bear fruit when it comes out. Starting an idea is like being pregnant for ten months. It requires the cooperation of the brain and hands, hard thinking, and hands-on practice. In the intense intertwining of brain and hands, the idea can grow like an embryo. Sadly, most entrepreneurs Without the blessing of motherhood, no supplements and no one to care about, starting a business is difficult, especially in the first one or two years of the start-up. There are inevitable ups and downs, so the idea of starting a business is infertile, stillborn, miscarried, and weird. Pregnancies and stillbirths abound. It is a blessing that an Idea can be successfully born after many twists and turns. The probability of an entrepreneurial Idea successfully giving birth to double-yolked eggs or triplets is basically zero.
The charm of entrepreneurship may lie in this mysterious idea generation process. Idea is the most difficult, most critical, and most irregular link in entrepreneurial success. Entrepreneurs need to boil oil lamps, squeeze out all their brains, and pray sincerely... Mencius said: "When heaven is about to entrust a great responsibility to a person, he must first strain his mind, work his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, deplete his body, and smooth out his behavior. "What you do is to be patient and gain what you can't do." Explain what Lao Meng means: grassroots entrepreneurship is a great responsibility given to us entrepreneurs by God. To do this, we must first have an idea and let the entrepreneurs hurt. They have to think through their brains and put them into action, making them tired to death, and even not giving them money, so that they can't even eat, and not allowing them to have smooth sailing. Only by tempering their ideas and strengthening their character in this way can they increase the likelihood of their entrepreneurial success.
Entrepreneurs are destined to suffer for their ideas.
The following are some methods to help entrepreneurs judge ideas. They are only for reference by brothers who are starting their own business for the first time. When you are hesitating, when you can't see clearly, when you can't sleep, you can use it for reference. Remember, these methods are just measurement tools and do not generate ideas by themselves, don’t misunderstand.
1) Start from a place you are familiar with
To get a good entrepreneurial idea, what is most needed is definitely not "money", nor is it necessarily "passion". It is hard to say whether it is "persistence". The most important thing is "knowledge". Note: It is not knowledge from books, but knowledge accumulated in work or life. Without the knowledge of personal experience, it is difficult to generate real entrepreneurial idea "inspiration". Fox has a wide network of contacts, which makes it difficult for competitors to imitate.
For example, Herman Hollerith, the founder of IBM, started a business to make a "computing time card machine". If he had never studied mathematics or worked at the National Bureau of Statistics, where he was busy calculating statistics all day long and was exhausted, how could he have imagined the invention?" "Operation time card machine" to improve work efficiency? Why not sell hamburgers, fried chicken wings, and coffee for Herman Hollerith? Herman Hollerith may make better burgers, fried chicken wings, and espresso than his "time card machine" "Better?"
When Lucas founded "Industrial Light and Magic", the first thing he did was to meet his own needs, because there was no ready-made production company in the world that could complete his difficult actions in "Star Wars", so what should he do? Only he could do it. Get started and start your own business.
How did Apple computers come about? Was it because Steve Jobs himself particularly liked apples?
Only the familiar things around you can immediately have a real and organic connection with you, give you your first-hand feelings and judgments, and give you the confidence to solve a problem, the belief to create value, and the motivation to Change the world and have the perseverance to find your true love.
Ideas for starting a business are best derived from things you have learned, come into contact with, and are familiar with. They arise naturally and you love them.
2) Think Small
Starting from small things, starting from "small" does not mean having no big ambitions. The big and dramatic things in the world may not start from some inexplicable little things.
You saw a man driving a broken-down Xiali at the street night market selling sandals, leather bags, and T-shirts on the corner. Can you believe that this is how Wal-Mart started? When you order lunch at noon, you see the young man who delivers the meal is sweating profusely. Can you believe that one day he will start a business and open a fast food chain that will surpass McDonald's? You are jumping up and down and playing with your Wii game stick. Can you believe that Nintendo was once a small workshop that printed playing cards? You opened it in Bainaohui A small stall sells all kinds of MP3 players, large and small, from Dongguan. Can you believe that one of them, a white one, one day turned into the world-famous iPod?
No matter how big a business is, it starts from small things. Small things are easy to grasp. If you can figure out a clear context in small things, dig out the shining points, and make it sound and impressive, then you don’t have to worry about whether you can do it. Big, getting bigger is just a matter of time and the coefficients in multiplication.
3) Should we use subtraction or addition?
People have a "greedy" subconscious mind and always feel that the more they have, the better; people often have misunderstandings and think that the more products they have, the easier it is to sell them.
Some people are building a search website. As they are doing it, they are itching to add free email. After adding email, they want to add news. After adding news, they think of finance. After adding finance, they want to add IM, as well as video, space, and blogs. , photo album, home, community, sharing, downloading, games... So we have a Portal, a portal.
Why can't this process be reversed? For example, take a portal, use a kitchen knife to cut off its games, videos, news, and mailboxes... In the end, there is only one search left, and then do the search well. Do it thoroughly.
Entrepreneurship is a love between heaven and earth. On one side is wealth, honor, and glory... On the other side is fear, loss, and disillusionment. Entrepreneurs are lonely, climbing high buildings alone in the cold wind. By using addition, you will seem to feel warmer and safer. In fact, otherwise, it is probably just your illusion; entrepreneurs need to be willing to endure loneliness, cling to the roots of the mountain without wavering, put all their efforts, and fight to the death...
Google and Yahoo started out as search engines, but what about now? Google is willing to be lonely, but it’s getting better and better. Yahoo does everything, and it’s totally different... Google is like a stewed bird’s nest, and Yahoo is like a hodgepodge.
Only people with a guilty conscience and low self-confidence will start a "portal website".
4) Look left, right, up and down
When you stand on the top of a mountain, you can see mountains on the left and mountains on the right. They are all mountains, mountains are connected with mountains, and there are mountains outside the mountains... Don’t look at this mountain and look at the height of that mountain. What you see are oranges, apples, and grapes. , Yali, which one is better? Both are good, there is no comparison between them. In other words, it doesn’t matter which one is better or more fashionable, whether starting a business in “high technology” or “traditional industry”, building a “website” or opening a “small store”, grassroots entrepreneurship, and being the best in the industry, can make a lot of money.
If you look up above your head, it's no use. Newton is pulling you under the ground, and you can't fly to the sky. Look down, and you'll see a piece of flat ground. Take a closer look, look down at your feet, and look at your feet again, and see if you can have a dazzling eye. See through the earth's surface, through the earth's crust, and see the magma rolling in the earth's core?
In other words, only by comparing Ideas vertically can you see the differences and the brilliance of each. Starbucks and Cross-Strait Coffee are both coffee shops, with very different tastes; Facebook and MySpace are both SNS websites, with their own strengths in experience, user groups, and functions.
China is plentiful with talents, and you can have as many ideas as you want. Don’t think that your idea will be unique or unique. Even if your Idea collides with someone else's, it's not a big deal. Don't be afraid of people calling you a "copycat". You can treat them as an "imaginary enemy" and try every means (another job that requires an Idea) to kill the "imaginary enemy". Give up your seat and ask them to follow you and build a "copycat phone".
5) It’s a donkey or a horse, take it out and let it go for a referendum!
"Haha, I thought of a wonderful idea, but it's a secret and I can't tell you!"
Okay, okay, lock your idea in a safe, dig three feet into the ground and bury it. Just wait, after 10 years, even if your Idea does not become moldy or grows bugs, it will still be an Idea and there will be no progress. If you take it out at that time, not only will everyone think that the Idea is not that great, but maybe even you. It would be quite embarrassing.
Ideas require feedback, deliberation, overthrowing, and refining over and over again. Stealing an idea is not that easy. Once an idea is stolen, it is still empty in your mind. To make an idea, you need to spend money and effort, and there is no guarantee that it will be successful. Most people take the risk of stealing an idea. Don't know how to do it and don't want to do it. You originally thought your idea was brilliant, but as soon as you told it, others laughed at you. Everyone thought you were smarter than you, and they had more good ideas than you, so they couldn’t steal yours. Maybe they They are still worried that you will steal their ideas.
How can Idea be so easy to steal?! Idea will have to wait until its sales reach at least 100 million before someone can steal it. In many cases, real competition occurs after your idea creates a shock wave in the market. Once your idea makes a lot of money, it will attract a large number of "thieves". What will happen if the thieves steal your idea? What? They will definitely succeed and then swallow you up? When the iPod was first launched, who among the "big thieves" thought highly of this gadget? Didn't it wait until the iPod became a big hit to make the "big thieves" dumbfounded? It suddenly dawned on me that even Bill Gates came to copy and make knockoff iPods. What was the result?
Protecting an idea depends on the situation and must be measured appropriately. If you don't have discussions among friends and feedback among colleagues, you can come up with a perfect idea alone, unless you are Newton, Bell, or Einstein.
6) Can you make money?
Starting a business is about making money. The measure of entrepreneurial success is how much money you make. At least, this is the standard currently recognized by the world. As for how you use the big money after you make it, that’s your business. You can build a palace, buy a mine, buy an island, or you can donate money to a temple to do good deeds. At that time, let’s discuss the idea of “spending money” again. Today The theme is "Making Money" Idea.
In a word, the only criterion for testing an idea is: it either makes money or it doesn't.
Starting an idea is a street fight. You can't do it for the sake of idea in an ivory tower. Entrepreneurship is not an MBA exercise. It has to be played for real. Therefore, the idea must be placed in a "real combat" environment and always connect the idea with "money". together.
Whether the profitable ideas can be further improved and strive to make more money; the unprofitable ideas should either be thrown away or continue to be refined until they can make money.
To judge how likely an idea is to make money and how much money it will make, it is best to use the "bottom-up" method: accurately calculate, for example, the unit price of the product, the cost of a single product, the ratio of gross profit to net profit, and then estimate when you can sell it. When you drop the first product, when will the company be able to break even? Use addition and subtraction, not multiplication and division. Add customers one by one, and add sales one by one. Remember: use monthly units to calculate, and use the bottom line to calculate your sales growth and profit growth in the first, second, and third years...
Of course, you can also try the "top-down" method. First, search online to see how big the total market size of your product is. You can set goals in "years" instead of "months". Using multiplication, division, and even advanced algebra, the goal in the first year is to capture 15% of the market share, set to double every year (this is easier, Excel will come out as soon as you pull it), 30% in the second year, and 45% in the third year %, 60% in the fourth year...you are close to a monopoly!
If you compare the calculation results of "bottom-up" and "top-down", I believe you will see that the difference between the two may be thousands of miles. It’s up to you which set of data you use. If you want to win the battle with confidence, use the “bottom-up” numbers. If you want to fool VCs, just bring the “top-down” set of numbers. .
7) Ideas have character
* Perseverance – Even though everyone says your idea is not good, if you think it is right, never give up, stick to yours, and persist until the end to prove others are wrong;
* Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – There is no “perfect” idea. Idea needs to be constantly revised and improved, so Idea 1.0, Idea 2.0, Idea 3.0... Version 2.0 must be more perfect than version 1.0, and version 3.0 must be more perfect than version 2.0;
* Xin Ze Ling – The emergence and development of ideas are often "irrational". They do not follow logical steps. You need to work like crazy without thinking through it. If you hit a wall, you will have to use your brain to modify it. No matter how good you are, it may not be right. Successful ideas often come about because you have the courage, enthusiasm, and courage to pursue them.
8) A good idea requires the right timing
To quote Henry Ford again: "If you ask customers who have never seen a car what they want, they will definitely say 'I want a faster horse.'" The entrepreneur's idea is to Beyond the times and leading the public, in other words, there are opportunities in entrepreneurs’ ideas that others have not yet seen, and values that others have not yet recognized...
However, to achieve the commercial success of a good idea, time is also of the essence. 10 years ago, someone made a video screen, and the result was a bloody blow; 10 years ago, someone developed WAP, which is today's wireless Internet, but lost all their money... Time is too difficult to control, because time is in the hands of God.
…
The story of the entrepreneurial idea is so wonderful and amazing.
Entrepreneurial ideas are essentially grassroots, the grass that grows in the brain. The charm of entrepreneurial ideas is that small ideas can create wealth, change lives, and change the world.
Finally, I admired Fox from the bottom of my heart for his rich interpersonal relationships. Rich interpersonal relationships and a little idea have become the core of entrepreneurship.