The Entrepreneur’s Recipe for Success

Have a great idea? Follow your passion and become a mega-successful entrepreneur!

Sigh. Another day, another pitch from a wannabe entrepreneur. With such enthusiasm they explain how brilliant their startup idea is, and how everyone will use the app, product or service. And then comes the big question: “Where can I find a technical co-founder? “

This is shorthand for:

Where can I find someone who is capable of building the product?
I’ll give them some equity for the all that work and risk,
but I’ll own the lion’s share of the company.
After all, I came up with the idea — and my idea is the most important thing.

Ideas. Experienced investors and entrepreneurs already know that ideas are so plentiful that they’re nearly worthless — a dime a dozen, as the cliche goes.

OK. This isn’t completely accurate. In entrepreneurship, ideas are important: ideas that provide value to customers, or ideas that improve lives in some way. But “the idea” is just one component of a successful venture.

Here’s a practical analogy:

Having a product idea is like having a recipe for a delicious dinner entree.

IF all you have is a unique recipe, then as a business, the recipe is worthless.

However,

IF you know how to cook, and have the ability to transform that recipe into a meal — then great! The recipe might please some friends and family. Beyond that, there’s no other real value in the recipe.

IF you have the ability to cook, and open a restaurant based on that tasty entree — then the recipe could be worth millions. Could be worth millions.

EXCEPT, you need to figure out things like:

• marketing the restaurant,
• hiring waiters and other staff,
• charging enough money to make a profit, and
• raising enough money to open the restaurant in the first place, etc.

AND, you need solve issues such as:

• How do you make the recipe for 400 people who all want it on the same night, or at the same time — such as during a banquet or wedding reception.
• Ordering enough raw ingredients to prepare enough servings, but not so much that the excess ingredients spoil.
• Offering other entrees on the menu, for variety, and to attract repeat customers.

WHAT IF you only have an idea for a recipe and cannot cook?

THEN, you’ll have to team up with a chef — who will not be impressed with your mere idea for a recipe. And, you had better bring other important skills to the table (pick some from those lists, above).

IF the recipe is TOO original or unique, then it might not appeal to enough diners to sustain an entire restaurant.

IF the recipe is NOT too unique, you can probably still make money though — if you pick the right location, market it right, and price it right.

SO, a unique recipe is nice, but not enough. A unique idea is important, but not enough.

Customers and “product-market fit” is even more important.

The ability to transform the idea into a product, and a into business, is all that counts.

Execution — is everything.

If you have the right product-market fit, and you can execute, the unique recipe doesn’t matter.

People just want to eat.

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CJ Cornell: Educator, Author, Speaker, Advisor, Founder, Investor: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Digital Media.

Author: The Age of Metapreneurship — A Journey into the Future of Entrepreneurship (May 2017, Venture Point Press)