Daily things to do as an entrepreneur (week 3): searching for the melody, not the technique
Last Monday, I went to a popular venue in San Francisco called Elbo Room where a few bands took turns to play on stage. The first band’s members dressed all like rock stars, completely rocked out on their electrical guitars, they even had a girl on stage at any given time hitting a hand drum; it was exciting, it was very loud. I thought it was good but I couldn’t remember any songs seconds after. Everybody else present was also clapping, nodding, being polite. Moments later, another band was on stage: three guys all in plain clothes, seemingly all just rolled out of their sleeping bag. But the miracle happened a few short minutes later: the entire house rocked out, people were on their feet, people were singing after the sleep-walker like singers…the songs stuck in my head right away!
So, two bands: one was showy with full nine yards of techniques, the other band was simple but memorable. Which one do people choose? The latter.
I think entrepreneur ought to work hard to be like the 2nd band. Be the band that creates melody, not technique.
Contemplating
It’s about knowing yourself. Before picking the ideas, you need to think if you have strong vision about certain ideas/areas, or if you are willing to work on any ideas as long as you can become successful. Knowing you as a visionary or opportunist could bring a clarity to your struggle to success.
Idea
Create simple but powerful ideas. How do you know your idea is powerful? Talk to the people who you think could be your future users. Randomly choose 10 of them from your office, coffee shop, while you wait in line for a movie, etc. talk to them in plain English. If 80% of people think it’s very useful from your less 30 seconds of elevator pitch, you probably are onto something people want. Otherwise, move on to the next idea.
Standard
I mean: set up high standard. Just because idea is simple it does not mean you have to execute it to a lower standard. Always, always set up the highest standard for your product originating from your idea. Be the Porsche of your idea. Be the best that you can be.
Narrowing
I am talking about narrowing your options. If high standard means needing more resources to make fewer things right, then focus on the fewer. Don’t try to make everything right, because you will either stretch your resources too thin to create something with true high standard, or you will focus on getting more resources which will lead to possible delayed failure. And a perfect market for your idea does need good timing. Work on the purest part of your idea first, the essence that got you excited at the first place, create the melody for it, strike a tune, give them to your target users. You will quickly find if they like it or not.
Fun
Great songs makes us happy. If your idea is a great one, you should feel the fun creating, delivering it. If you are no longer having fun, time to stop and go back to first step “contemplating”, starting all over again.
