How people arrived at their start up idea

[enquirer]

So I’m doing some research on startup owners / aspiring start up owners / those who have launched startups at some point, and how they found their business idea.

I’ve created a quick survey which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete (10 questions maximum).

To return the favour I would be happy to take part in any surveys you may in turn be carrying out, including the very length qualitative ones

 

[fisicx]

Seriously?

That's got to be one of the worst surveys I've ever seen. Most of the question don't even make sense.

 

[enquirer]

Seriously?

That's got to be one of the worst surveys I've ever seen. Most of the question don't even make sense.

Apologies, but what is confusing about it? Several others have completed the survey and have understood it.

Can you point out the question numbers you don't understand please?... Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Q3 - Why does it have to be a single sentence? In any case most people would have to guess how long it took.

Q4. Again one would have to guess and there may never have been a MVP.

Q5. Why just the concept? Tools could be used continuously from cradle to grave. It's a continual process.

Q7 contradicts Q4.

Q8 and Q9. A required question for a condition that might never have happened.

Q10. Why does there have to be something you hate. Again a required question

Q11 Doesn't make any sense. There may never have been an idea, the startup could have been the natural progression from another area of business.

Q12 contradicts Q7 if the answer is No.

 

[Mr D]

So I’m doing some research on startup owners / aspiring start up owners / those who have launched startups at some point, and how they found their business idea.

I’ve created a quick survey which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete (10 questions maximum).

https://bit.ly/2Gq6su3

To return the favour I would be happy to take part in any surveys you may in turn be carrying out, including the very length qualitative ones

What is an MVP? I've only been in business a couple of decades and I don't know what you are referring to.
Half the questions could not answer.

 

[Noah]

Q7 contradicts Q4.

I don't even know what an MVP is - I suppose I could take an educated guess - "Market Value Potential"?

Too much bloody jargon. This reeks of an academic exercise with no comprehension of reality.

 

[Noah]

I’m doing some research on startup owners / aspiring start up owners / those who have launched startups at some point, and how they found their business idea.

You will have read replies here that at first blush seem less than constructive; I encourage you to count to 10, figuratively step back to take an objective perspective, and re-consider how you have approached this exercise.

P.S. Please don't start posts with "So..."

 

[johndon68]

What is an MVP?

Minimum viable product - often used in conjunction with software where you release a product as soon as it has the minimum number of features to be useable.

John

 

[naxtech]

I've had no problem at all in understanding it at all. Someone involved in startups will understand everything in there i think.

 

[Noah]

software

Well, of course - that explains it.

The original poster did not mention this word - presumably because that is the only type of "startup" than anyone could possibly be interested in.

 

[BustersDogs]

What's passive and active ideation?? Can't even answer the first question.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

You have assumed that all businesses are started in adherence to the current literature, blogs, etc surrounding start ups, and regurgitated that into a series of questions.

 

[Mr D]

Minimum viable product - often used in conjunction with software where you release a product as soon as it has the minimum number of features to be useable.

John

Thanks for that.
Never used the term and not a policy we have ever followed. So plenty of questions that cannot be answered still

 

[Mr D]

I've had no problem at all in understanding it at all. Someone involved in startups will understand everything in there i think.

Except someone here (me) with multiple startups in two decades did not understand a chunk of it.
Sorry if my experience is different from yours. Its still my experience.

 

[enquirer]

Q3 - Why does it have to be a single sentence? In any case most people would have to guess how long it took.

Q4. Again one would have to guess and there may never have been a MVP.

Q5. Why just the concept? Tools could be used continuously from cradle to grave. It's a continual process.

Q7 contradicts Q4.

Q8 and Q9. A required question for a condition that might never have happened.

Q10. Why does there have to be something you hate. Again a required question

Q11 Doesn't make any sense. There may never have been an idea, the startup could have been the natural progression from another area of business.

Q12 contradicts Q7 if the answer is No.

I've looked at each of your points step by step, but it appears you are the wrong type of entrepreneur to do the survey.

The survey is targeted to those applying Lean principles to their start up - which is normally an internet based start up. I should have made this clear.

Thank you for the feedback however.

 

[enquirer]

You will have read replies here that at first blush seem less than constructive; I encourage you to count to 10, figuratively step back to take an objective perspective, and re-consider how you have approached this exercise.

P.S. Please don't start posts with "So..."

No need, I realised I should have made it clearer the people who the survey is for. MVP = Minimum Viable Product.

The other users who have answered my survey have had no issue with it as they are involved in the internet start up scene. Thanks though!

 

[enquirer]

Minimum viable product - often used in conjunction with software where you release a product as soon as it has the minimum number of features to be useable.

John

I've had no problem at all in understanding it at all. Someone involved in startups will understand everything in there i think.

Thanks guys, you are both right. MVP = minimum viable product. Those in traditional businesses may not know this, those in internet based start ups will fly through the survey however.

 

[enquirer]

Well, of course - that explains it.

The original poster did not mention this word - presumably because that is the only type of "startup" than anyone could possibly be interested in.

You have assumed that all businesses are started in adherence to the current literature, blogs, etc surrounding start ups, and regurgitated that into a series of questions.

You are both correct. I should have made it clear the survey is best for those who work in web based / IT based start ups. That was my error, apologies.

 

[enquirer]

What's passive and active ideation?? Can't even answer the first question.

Passive ideation is when you come up with an idea (in this case a business idea) absent mindedly, normally born from a common problem one wishes to solve in their life.

Active ideation is when you actively seek out an idea (in this case a business idea). Common forms of active ideation is brainstorming business ideas that you can turn into a start up.

 

[Mark T Jones]

You are both correct. I should have made it clear the survey is best for those who work in web based / IT based start ups. That was my error, apologies.

This!

I can see it adding value from some quarters, but having works with many start ups, both as funder and as a volunteer mentor, I'd suggest that 90% would be quite bewildered by ideations and MVPs

 

[enquirer]

I've had no problem at all in understanding it at all. Someone involved in startups will understand everything in there i think.

Do you think you can complete the quick survey?... Thanks in advance

 

[enquirer]

This!

I can see it adding value from some quarters, but having works with many start ups, both as funder and as a volunteer mentor, I'd suggest that 90% would be quite bewildered by ideations and MVPs

Within the UK, perhaps. Amongst US and Chinese entrepreneurs it appears not. Then again the UK is very behind with the start up web scene.

 

[Mr D]

Within the UK, perhaps. Amongst US and Chinese entrepreneurs it appears not. Then again the UK is very behind with the start up web scene.

Yes we've only been doing the startup scene for a few hundred years.

 

[enquirer]

Yes we've only been doing the startup scene for a few hundred years.

In which fields exactly? Traditional sectors, yes.

As someone who has just returned from living abroad and has encountered entrepreneurs from a wide wage of nationalities I’m sorry to say it but in terms of tech/ IT startups and ability this country is well behind the loop.

 

[Mr D]

In which fields exactly? Traditional sectors, yes.

As someone who has just returned from living abroad and has encountered entrepreneurs from a wide wage of nationalities I’m sorry to say it but in terms of tech/ IT startups and ability this country is well behind the loop.

What did the industrial revolution cover? Quite a chunk of the economy. Don't know how much of it was traditional sectors - railways were new, as was quite a number of sectors. I do have a soft spot for the television, very much not a traditional sector when it started.

You specifically talk of tech / IT startups. A fraction of the startups.
Amazing what gets added to a thread after it starts.

 

[fisicx]

As someone who has just returned from living abroad and has encountered entrepreneurs from a wide wage of nationalities I’m sorry to say it but in terms of tech/ IT startups and ability this country is well behind the loop.

Some of the very best innovative IT startups are in the UK.

And I have two IT startups and I managed OK without using lean, agile and any of the other methods so beloved of modern project managers. What I have discovered is many of the IT startups I deal with daily are pretty rubbish at anything outside of code. Which is why many of them fail.

 

[enquirer]

What did the industrial revolution cover? Quite a chunk of the economy. Don't know how much of it was traditional sectors - railways were new, as was quite a number of sectors. I do have a soft spot for the television, very much not a traditional sector when it started.

You specifically talk of tech / IT startups. A fraction of the startups.
Amazing what gets added to a thread after it starts.

Railways.... now realistically, Mr D, how likely can the average Joe Blogs contribute to a railways startup.The reality is tech startups which are accessible to the average man who is bootstrapping his own projects (minimal or no external investment) is not a thriving market here in the UK. Comparatively in the US and parts of Asian and other parts of Europe, it is.

By the way, the Industrial Revolution occurred 150 years. The sun has since dimmed on that great era of British history. It's like quoting '66 proudly as proof of England's current competitive football team.

 

[enquirer]

Some of the very best innovative IT startups are in the UK.

And I have two IT startups and I managed OK without using lean, agile and any of the other methods so beloved of modern project managers. What I have discovered is many of the IT startups I deal with daily are pretty rubbish at anything outside of code. Which is why many of them fail.

That's all very good and well, Fisicx. When your start ups are scaled up to a fraction of Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Lyft, Google, Reddit etc etc please let us all know.

One can 'manage' or can thrive and be more time efficient through learning lessons from others that have succeeded through established frameworks. It's personal choice at the end of the day.

 

[fisicx]

Hang about, that's not what you opening post or survey suggested. I've learnt many lessons over the years and one of them was that lean working, agile, waterfall and other methodologies rarely result in good products. Mainly because those who use them become too narrowly focused and goal orientated.

 

[BustersDogs]

Passive ideation is when you come up with an idea (in this case a business idea) absent mindedly, normally born from a common problem one wishes to solve in their life.

Active ideation is when you actively seek out an idea (in this case a business idea). Common forms of active ideation is brainstorming business ideas that you can turn into a start up.

oh in that case neither applies. So still can't answer the question.

 

[enquirer]

Hang about, that's not what you opening post or survey suggested. I've learnt many lessons over the years and one of them was that lean working, agile, waterfall and other methodologies rarely result in good products. Mainly because those who use them become too narrowly focused and goal orientated.

My initial post: ''So I’m doing some research on startup owners / aspiring start up owners / those who have launched startups at some point, and how they found their business idea.''

There is no contradiction in my response to you and my initial post and survey. I'm simply doing market research. That being said, in my humble opinion, a wise man learns from others mistakes as opposed to learning those lessons the hard way himself. Such mistakes cost time and money to correct.

Waterfall methodology is almost in direct opposition to Agile methodology, and pretty unrelated to Lean methodology, by the way (it's the traditional old school business model which does not work so well with software). Somehow I doubt you have good working knowledge of these methodologies to speak against them all so firmly.

PS - I'm PRINCE2 Practitioner certified, and although I would neglect much of this particular framework in future endeavours one thing I have learned is that often old timers are dismissive of new / newish frameworks with little knowledge of what these actual frameworks are...

 

[enquirer]

oh in that case neither applies. So still can't answer the question.

Out of curiousity, can you explain how you arrived to your business idea in that case?.... A mix of both?... Or something else entirely?...

 

[Toby Willows]

That's all very good and well, Fisicx. When your start ups are scaled up to a fraction of Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Lyft, Google, Reddit etc etc please let us all know.

.

All of whom wouldn’t exist without the British startups that made their very existence possible.

 

[enquirer]

All of whom wouldn’t exist without the British startups that made their very existence possible.

Can you name these British startups which made the US giant startups existance possible? Some faint distant relationship doesn't count, by the way.

 

[APW]

Just putting it out there..... without our greatest British startup there would be NO facebook, uber, snapchat etc....

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee started something amazing.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

Within the UK, perhaps. Amongst US and Chinese entrepreneurs it appears not. Then again the UK is very behind with the start up web scene.

Hardly...London is Europe's leading tech hub, with UK tech start ups attracting more VC money than any other European country. London is also home to more unicorns than any other European city.

 

[enquirer]

Just putting it out there..... without our greatest British startup there would be NO facebook, uber, snapchat etc....

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee started something amazing.

Hardly...London is Europe's leading tech hub, with UK tech start ups attracting more VC money than any other European country. London is also home to more unicorns than any other European city.

I'll let the Financial Times sum it up for you:

https://www.ft.com/content/7b7b366e-c4a6-11e3-b2fb-00144feabdc0

Naysayers contend that’s hardly surprising. Aside perhaps from chip designer Arm and accounting software group Sage, the country that practically invented both the computer and the internet has failed to produce a flagship global technology group to rival Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Apple.

“If you say you’re building a start-up in the UK, most people think you’re unemployed,” says 27-year-old Alice Bentinck – a co-founder of Entrepreneur First, a competitive accelerator program which aims to nurture business talent among the UK’s top technical graduates."

“The UK operates on the basis of financial services risk, not entrepreneurial risk,” said Prince Andrew. “We’ve got to adapt that entrepreneurial spirit to the UK.”

As the FT points out the strength of the UK lies in it's proximity to Europe and expat talents within the country. That is, Until May 2019 at least...

"An innovative tech company in London can aspire to have “the DNA of a consumer-savvy Swedish product manager, an Israeli data scientist, a Cambridge or Finnish engineer, and a commercially astute London marketeer,” says Debu Purkayastha, entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital group Octopus Investments and former principal of new business development at Google."

 

[Mr D]

My initial post: ''So I’m doing some research on startup owners / aspiring start up owners / those who have launched startups at some point, and how they found their business idea.''

There is no contradiction in my response to you and my initial post and survey. I'm simply doing market research. That being said, in my humble opinion, a wise man learns from others mistakes as opposed to learning those lessons the hard way himself. Such mistakes cost time and money to correct.

Waterfall methodology is almost in direct opposition to Agile methodology, and pretty unrelated to Lean methodology, by the way (it's the traditional old school business model which does not work so well with software). Somehow I doubt you have good working knowledge of these methodologies to speak against them all so firmly.

PS - I'm PRINCE2 Practitioner certified, and although I would neglect much of this particular framework in future endeavours one thing I have learned is that often old timers are dismissive of new / newish frameworks with little knowledge of what these actual frameworks are...

You didn't want responses from startup owners or those who had launched startups.
Like most amateurs you miss the idea that your questions define the responses.
Then you spend many hours backtracking and going at tangents.

You weren't simply doing market research. Even the interns in a market research survey company would run rings around you.

 

[APW]

I'll let the Financial Times sum it up for you:

https://www.ft.com/content/7b7b366e-c4a6-11e3-b2fb-00144feabdc0

Naysayers contend that’s hardly surprising. Aside perhaps from chip designer Arm and accounting software group Sage, the country that practically invented both the computer and the internet has failed to produce a flagship global technology group to rival Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Apple.

“If you say you’re building a start-up in the UK, most people think you’re unemployed,” says 27-year-old Alice Bentinck – a co-founder of Entrepreneur First, a competitive accelerator program which aims to nurture business talent among the UK’s top technical graduates."

“The UK operates on the basis of financial services risk, not entrepreneurial risk,” said Prince Andrew. “We’ve got to adapt that entrepreneurial spirit to the UK.”

As the FT points out the strength of the UK lies in it's proximity to Europe and expat talents within the country. That is, Until May 2019 at least...

"An innovative tech company in London can aspire to have “the DNA of a consumer-savvy Swedish product manager, an Israeli data scientist, a Cambridge or Finnish engineer, and a commercially astute London marketeer,” says Debu Purkayastha, entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital group Octopus Investments and former principal of new business development at Google."

I have been self employed for 18 years now, many different businesses in different industries, some worked and made money and some didn't and out of everything i have ever done, that article is all gobbledegoo to me and if you think a real actual business talks like that then you are in for a shock.

Real business people are straight talking people, they only care about what they can get cheaper/better and what they can sell. Business articles are written by wannabes who are more concerned with there business persona or corporate monkeys that are only interested in climbing a ladder.

 

[enquirer]

You didn't want responses from startup owners or those who had launched startups.
Like most amateurs you miss the idea that your questions define the responses.
Then you spend many hours backtracking and going at tangents.

You weren't simply doing market research. Even the interns in a market research survey company would run rings around you.

Ad hominems are unbecoming.

I've had three completed survey responses so far from entrepreneurs who are well versed in non traditional tech start ups, so clearly my survey is doable.