PARIS, FRANCE – June 16: Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter … [+]
As an avid early investor in new business ideas, I’ve always been amazed at how some founders with great ideas and seemingly doing everything right fail, while others with “outlandish” ideas and tactics succeed. I believe the difference lies not in the quality of the idea, but in the insight and quality of the founders.
To find out if professional investors agree, I was interested to review the new book “Pattern Breakers” by two of Silicon Valley’s most successful early-stage investors, Mike Maples Jr. and Peter Zibelman, who provide numerous real-life case studies from their own experiences that show how unconventional thinking and insights can favor breakthrough ideas.
Here, I outline five key recommendations for finding and evaluating insights as an entrepreneur pursuing a breakthrough idea for your next business: Like me, you’ll find many of the recommendations counterintuitive and not typically considered “best practices.”
1. Seek non-consensus fundamental insights. True success in new ventures relies on making non-consensus, correct decisions about opportunities to change the way customers think, feel, and act in the future. It’s not enough to just build a better mousetrap, because many other incumbents are probably already doing it and competing with you.
2. Harness new forces of global change. Your insights should be based not on clever catchphrases but on early, significant changes happening across the world, whether technological, social, or political. Pattern-breaking ideas need substance and momentum to create or accelerate fundamental change.
3. Great ideas defy common sense. Don’t expect everyone to agree with you, and don’t worry too much about the initial reactions from your peers, friends, and family. Significant debates and controversies will help your case be recognized as a new platform. Challenging conventional wisdom will motivate everyone to push new boundaries.
Four. Think and act differently to find a breakthrough. Don’t focus on traditional or incremental success. Decide that you want something you’ve never had before and get out of your comfort zone to get it. Don’t let limiting beliefs stop you from succeeding. See the good and focus your thoughts on what you want.
Five. Look for ideas that no one else is pursuing. Be brave and start working on an idea that inspires your creativity before anyone else has considered it and before your prototypes have reached a level where they can be accepted by key constituencies. Products It was created by people with strong beliefs about something that seems odd to most others.
6. Stress test your insight in your own mind. Instead of simply stating your opposition, ask yourself the tough questions, including what might change in ways that aren’t obvious, what the consensus thinks, why the imminent future is the right time for my insight to be true, and why hasn’t it happened yet?
In my opinion, and the author’s, discovering compelling insights is the true talent of breakthrough founders. Understanding the impact of new technologies and finding novel ways to connect them to drive fundamental change requires not only insight, but also creativity.
It’s easy to look back and see examples of this insight and creativity in founders like Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk. But it’s not so easy for you or me to look to the future and identify or become one of these people and take advantage of the opportunities that are already on our doorstep. My challenge to you is to give it a go and put your name on the shortlist.
