Monthly Archive
for: ‘February, 2011’

The year is 2007, and I had just left Microsoft to dive into the startup world. Like many first time entrepreneurs, I was very excited about the adventure. And like many first time entrepreneurs, I didn’t know where to start.

So I attended events, meetups, conferences, and mingled with the local startup community in Seattle. When time came to move to the Bay Area, I found even more events, more meetups, and more conferences. The startup ecosystem was so busy and alive, and I found a wealth of knowledge and experience being shared, which I consumed eagerly.

There were also blogs, videos, interviews, and books that I ingested with passion. They made great conversation topics during the events, the meetups and the conferences.

I even joined a startup incubator!

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Ideas can be paralyzing, and it seems like the more ideas we get, the less likely we are to pick one and act on it.

When the paradox of choice kicks in, some of us opt for postponing the choice, others choose one idea and feel guilty about the ones they left behind, and many stay stuck in square zero trying to make the “right decision”.

It doesn’t have to be that hard!

After being stuck in square zero several times, I came up with a quick formula that made my affair with ideas short and sweet. I basically have a list of 9 questions that often rule out all ideas except one or two that I start working on, without feeling stuck or guilty.  Here they are:

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So you have a startup idea that you’re very excited about. You believe it’s going to be the next big thing. You passionately share it with few friends asking for their opinions. And you spend your lunch hour daydreaming about TechCrunch’s post on launch day, and on acquisition day.

Then comes this little voice saying that the idea may be silly. May be someone else is already working on it, and may be you’ll end up making a fool of yourself,  leaving a secure job with a monthly paycheck to chase a phantom of your own imagination.

How do you know that your idea is good enough before you add it to your "may be someday" list, or leave your job and spend several months in the corner of your bedroom learning Rails and coding it?

The answer is:

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