Idea Sex & Why I Don’t Worry When An Idea Fails
Plus, Results from Idea Forge (Startup 2/12)
It failed. It got zero sales.
Maybe it’s because of wrong market (serial entrepreneurs, rather than wantrepreneurs)? Maybe revenue model (don’t offer free, but charge upfront)? Maybe category (i.e. Notes & ChatGPT are free ways to solve the problem, so why pay for this)?
Who knows.
9-10 people actually used it, so there’s something there. Some potential — either the problem is acute, or they found the offer somewhat compelling. That’s cool to see.
BUT, with no retention and no sales, it’s a dangerous path to keep iterating in the hope of discovering an offer that really works.
I’m a bootstrapped solopreneur, so I need to see profitability potential to commit more than 4 weeks to an idea (measured by =>$0.50 per unique site visitor).
So I’ll pivot for now.
But this failure brings me to a bigger question:
😭 Most people try 1 idea, it doesn’t work out, they give up on entrepreneurship forever.
😢 Or they are so scared of how the idea will be received, they never launch in the first place.
Me?
Honestly, I’m fine with failure.
Why?
Because I’ve learnt that good ideas take time - and good ideas are built on previous, sometimes bad, ideas.
I’ve launched 8 startups.
6/8 failed.
But 2/8 succeeded.
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”
Churchill said.
And I agree with him.
Smart Updates failed.
Idea Forge has just failed.
But with every new product, I discover new ideas.
New tools.
New technologies.
I learnt the power of “Idea Sex” (this merging of ideas & experiences) building Prod MBA, a hands-on bootcamp for Product Managers where you build a real product from zero to revenue.
Prod MBA wasn’t just an idea I came up with one day in isolation.
It came from self-teaching product in my first startup (2012), seeing the impact of learning by doing (not just reading overly-theoretical books).
It came from freelancing (2014-17) & discovering this new thing called “product managers” I hadn’t heard of before (but had been doing without the title for 2-3 years).
From seeing their problems first-hand.
It probably came from a disgust with the ineffectiveness of my university years (2010-2013), even!
But I didn’t build anything for Product Managers for years. I didn’t even know I had an idea for years.
Instead, when I wanted to start a business again in Jan 2020, I was testing out an idea for remote HR teams.
Discovery calls from that led me to the problem of remote product management instead.
Then, speaking to Product Managers, I realised there was a bigger problem than “how to manage a remote product team”:
How to skill up & get promoted as a Product Manager.
Only then, did I test Prod MBA (Apr 2020).
The idea had been evolving for years, but only emerged because of the iterations & experiences I had gained before.
One idea will lead to a better idea.
By building Smart Updates & Idea Forge, for example, I’ve uncovered a load of potential problems I could now solve for — problems I wouldn’t have stumbled upon without shipping those products:
One idea will lead to a better idea.
I’ve learnt that.
I get it.
I’ve seen this story play out.
But you?
Assuming you want to build a successful startup?
You need to ship — to get your ideas out in the wild.
Ship something, anything.
And it will probably fail.
But only by shipping will you uncover the idea that will succeed.