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The world isn’t going to shower gold coins on you just because you have a good idea: Good ideas are a bedrock of a startup. However, they’re only a necessary – not sufficient conditioning of running a good startup. We’ve seen plenty of material around how good ideas change the world. Although it is true, ideas alone don’t amount to anything.

The execution of these ideas clearly make a lasting difference. And this is what differentiates a good startup. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not dissing the need of a good idea, but there certainly is a limit to this idea. In this article, we will talk a little bit about assessing good ideas and converting them into a start-up.

The world isnt going to shower gold coins

I find this very catchy – good enough to be in a movie where the actor is sending a firm message. Maybe this is one of those firm messages to all entrepreneurs. As founders, we’re generally proud and protective of our ideas. There is also a tendency to be possessive about these ideas to the extent that we think it is everything. But time and again, entrepreneur stories have taught us that idea is only a starting point.

We will talk about this in detail when looking at converting an idea into business. Not every idea is worth your time. In fact, the toughest part about being an entrepreneur is to be brutally objective to ideas that can’t fulfil your vision or objectives. This means that sometimes you’d have to say no even to the best ideas because you don’t have enough bandwidth.

One of the most common things people miss is that it takes a lot of time and effort before making an idea into a startup. We must start with assessing an idea to see whether it is worth building a business around it. The most common steps in assessing a startup idea are:

You’re going to have to work like crazy

Majority of the startup quotes will talk about how important it is to pursue and persevere. Maybe this is the trademark characteristic of all entrepreneurs. But I’d like to question that a little bit. It sometimes can be caustic to be stuck on an idea because of all the sunk cost. There will be times where you have to take a good look at your idea and decide to move on.

It is going to be one of the toughest decision as an entrepreneur. But we ought to find a way to be objective. Nothing is worth waiting forever. You still will have other parts of life to answer to. Let’s face it, no matter how passionate we are about a startup, it still is only one part of your life. All of those can’t wait around for you to keep investing into a sunk cost.

Having said that, I subscribe to the belief of committing to an idea and working hard. I know it sounds conflicting and that’s why it makes this journey of an entrepreneur so hard. You’ll have to work very hard – every entrepreneur does. But that also cannot be the only differentiator. All these qualities of entrepreneur that we talk about are only necessary requirements, but not enough.

Meaning of The world isnt going to shower gold coins just because you have a good idea

Ultimately, all I want to say is that a good idea is a starting point. A startup demands that you show value to the users. Unless you’re able to show value and ability to continually deliver, the startup will fail. The business world will be cutthroat and won’t make exceptions for entrepreneurs. It is a simple value transaction at the end of it.

But the beauty is that if you’re able to find out what value to deliver and create a beautiful customer experience around it – then that’s your goldmine. But yes, we ought to put aside our entitlement and past glories. The startup I believe is a tough nut to crack. I’ll leave you with some closing thoughts of this quote

• Show value
• Don’t expect the idea to be welcomed everywhere, there will be opposition and challenges
• You’ll need to prove with your results even before getting noticed

You must be very patient, very persistent. The world isnt going to shower gold coins on you just because you have a good idea. You’re going to have to work like crazy to bring that idea to the attention of people. They’re not going to buy it unless they know about it.

Herb Kelleher, Founder of SouthWest Airlines