Entrepreneurs – Beware of good ideas that turn bad!
In theory, meeting an unmet need on a specific market should be a good idea.
The reality is all too often quite different. You’ve been hit by a brainwave during work or at home upon noticing a problem which to your mind could be solved by a new product.
This is the root cause of the largest number of business failures, ahead of cashflow issues or falling out with business partners. In fact, 42% of start-ups fail because they misidentify a market need. You need to know why this happens – if you don’t, you’ll unwittingly fall victim to confirmation bias. You’ll place most emphasis on your personal experience and your preconceptions without taking into account real market needs. What’s most important is to understand if your product matches its intended core market.
How can you test your idea and avoid falling into a trap?
At Agropole, we advise start-ups to adhere to a simple model during their business’ life-cycle:
Develop an idea > Test your idea against external elements > Analyze the results > develop a new variant of your idea > Test this new variant > Analyze the results and repeat.
This helps you to free yourself from biases as it’s no longer just you on your own trying to convince yourself that your idea is a good one, you’re opening it up to external criticism.
To maximize project success rates, we’ve developed a business incubator called Plus10 to help your Agri-food projects get off to a good start.
We’re here to offer tailored support and advice during all of the key stages of your start-up:
- Build the team
- Formulate the product
- Familiarize yourself with the market
- Draw up a Sales and Operations Planning document
- Take care of the day-to-day running of the start-up
- Find funders
None of these things will necessarily come naturally to someone who’s starting up a new business. And that’s why you can rely on Agropole.