For a while now, I’ve been reading real-life stories about entrepreneurship and business development and one common thread in these stories is falling in love with an idea, and the people who are in love with their ideas…
People who fill the environment with their energy, who are bubbly, who dedicate themselves to their ideas day and night, but who miss or disregard signals from the outside world.
The entrepreneurial world is built on delicate balances: ideas, marketing, feedback, capital and investment seeking, regulations and even managing the team. All of these are interrelated and influence each other.
In a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem; an idea is put forward, tested at different scales, market conditions are examined, the idea is turned into a product, launched to the market, and modified if necessary.
Falling in love with an idea is what disrupts this cycle. The idea’s creator becomes fixated on their idea as if in an impossible love, pushing everything else; development, customers, the market, even investors second.
Therefore, flexibility decreases and even the correction cycle required for the product slows down.
Why do we fall in love with our ideas?
Perhaps the most important question to answer is why we fall in love with our ideas.
There are psychological and social dynamics at play here.
The human brain is very adept at creating narratives within itself and organizing experiences into meaningful patterns that allow for better understanding.
When someone comes up with an idea, the person who came up with it gains an identity; I came up with this, I’m pursuing this idea.
When an idea stems from a personal problem the person who came up with it wants to solve, more emotion is intensified. Sunk-cost, praise, and the validation effect created by early success, along with ego and ambition, fuel this love.
Why shouldn’t we fall in love with our ideas?
Business isn’t a romantic relationship. The market has no feelings, it’s emotionless, volatile, and its voice is often bought with money. No matter how beautiful, wonderful, amazing, or perfect an idea is, if no one uses it and no one is using it, it’s nothing more than a pleasant assumption.
Becoming overly attached to an idea misdirects limited time, money, and human resources, dulls adaptability and slows down the learning process.
We can’t conclude this discussion without mentioning the tangible costs.
The first is time, the second is cost, the third and most important is opportunity and the fourth, least visible but most critical is motivation and trust.
Searching for data to validate the idea (i.e., confirmation bias), adding features users don’t need, losing flexibility, slowing the learning cycle, team tension and loss of reputation and investment are other significant costs that falling in love with an idea can bring.
Signs of an entrepreneur in love with their idea
If the person reacts emotionally to criticism of his / her idea, ignore user data, decide to rebuild the product from scratch instead of making revisions and corrections or suppress dissenting voices from within the team, you’re dealing with an entrepreneur who is in some kind of relationship with his / her idea.
Furthermore, if they claim that no one has made a similar product before him / her and can’t seem to believe the product is ready, the issue has become more about stubbornness than creativity.
The signs of an entrepreneur married to their idea are similar and if noticed early, there’s a chance for improvement.
Where is the solution?
Speed, agility, dynamism, and quick decision-making and reactions are in vogue in today’s business life. Therefore, it’s possible to mention some key points that can be implemented immediately.
- Turning every feature into a testable hypothesis
- Short-cycle MPVs
- Clearly defined kill-criteria,
- Conducting regular customer meetings, and
- Making decisions based on data
These are simple criteria that can be adopted in the idea-to-product transformation phase. Furthermore, seeking external consulting; even holding periodic failure simulation sessions, helps regulate the ego.
Turning an idea into a product is teamwork; the norm should be to be curious about the customer, not to fall in love with the idea.
…
To return to the beginning, it’s natural to fall in love with the idea initially; passionately defending it is necessary for it to become a product, but the idea shouldn’t take over the decision-making process.
I know every idea that pops into your head seems great, but in today’s world, verified facts seem more valuable…
Sources and further links…
- Don’t fall in love with your startup idea until you’ve answered these 5 questions
- Your big startup idea doesn’t matter (Until you do this)
- The rise and fall of solution-first thinking: Why great founders obsess over problems…
- Why you shouldn’t fall in love with your first idea
- Don’t fall in love with your first ideas
- From concept to launch: How to successfully start your business
- The dangers of falling in love with your startup idea and what to do instead
