Aspiring Entrepreneurs: So You Had a "Lightbulb Moment"- Now What?

Six questions to ask yourself before turning your lightbulb moment into a real business.

By: Mike Mauseth, MapVida Co-Founder 

So, it happened. Your game-changing idea keeps playing over and over in your mind. It’s a “can’t lose,” “disrupting,” virtual reality-artificial intelligence-predictive data — mobile app that also makes waffles, or maybe cronuts. What do you do now? Six questions to ask yourself before turning your lightbulb moment into a real business.

1. Do you know anyone that has done it before?

This is a bit self-defeating, but no blog post or PowerPoint is going to address all the issues unique to your: a) idea/industry; b) skillset; c) network; and d) need for funding. So, first things first, find someone that can give you advice — who has also built a successful product from the ground up.

2. Is anyone else doing it, or something close?

(Tip: Be honest with yourself and really try to find some competitors).

This is a double-edge sword. If no one has a competing product, the first response from investors will be “really?” The second response will be “then maybe there isn’t a market for it.” So, in many respects, competitors validate your idea. The trick is to do it better than your competitors. Google didn’t invent search, Facebook didn’t invent social media (Friendster, anyone) …they just did it better. If you insist your product is unique, ask yourself, “how are consumers solving the problem today, without your product?” That may reveal who you are trying to unseat/disrupt.

3. Can you create a Minimally Viable Product (MVP)?

This is the newest way of saying, can you test the concept before investing significant dollars or time? You need to find a way to demonstrate that people or companies would be interested in using your product. Remember, your MVP should only be scaled down to the point that it still addresses the market need. It can’t be a plane with no wings, engine or cockpit. That’s not “viable.”

4. When will this side-gig become your main-gig?

Let’s say you build the MVP and the feedback is positive. You need to figure out a couple of things: a) Does your day job (assuming you have one) have any claim to your product? You’ll need to review your employee handbooks and agreements and consult with any attorney (particularly if your product idea is in the same industry as your current employer); and b) what milestone or market response do you need to occur in order to stop being a “night-and-weekend” entrepreneur. It could be a customer order, or funding milestone. But at some point, you need to be full-time or your product will always be a hobby.

5. Do you have bench strength lined up?

Everyone knows you need to be lean, but there is no way you can wear every hat. So, planning for success, do you have a roster of potential people (contractors, or otherwise) that can help you market, sell, and support your product (both from an up-time and customer service perspective). Thanks to the specialization economy, you can farm out a lot of your needs (to online support to product development). But, it’s always a good idea to have some people in your town ready to help, should you need to expand quickly or address a customer emergency.

6. Do you have a roadmap (and can you prioritize)?

Don’t be Veruca Salt, because you probably can’t have it now. Every initial product is saddled with compromises. Some or “nice to haves” and others are “fast follows.” Make sure you track those items, not only from a customer satisfaction perspective, but also from a desire to not live with your compromises for the next 3–5 years.

Now that you’ve considered these six questions, remember, it is only a list and you should start asking questions of other living, breathing people too.

Mike Mauseth is MapVida’s co-founder and is the co-inventor on multiple issued patents focused on predictive analytics, risk assessment, and e-commerce. His real estate technology expertise was a driving force behind MapVida, the patent-pending technology that translates massive amounts of location data into meaningful comparisons. Find Mike on Facebook @MapVida, Twitter @mikemauseth or www.linkedin.com/in/mikemauseth/