Chapter 2: The Seed

A tiny seed is required to grow a tree. In the same way to build a business all you need is an idea, but an idea is not something which can buy online or in a store. You need to keep your eyes and ears open, you don’t know when you will get an idea. Whether or not you turn an idea into a successful business is different thing, but the first step is to find an idea.

An idea to turn into business should be

•  Of something which people need or
• You have to create a need for it.

Google is the perfect example of first type. Internet is a very big world, what if I need to find something on internet. I cannot go and check on each website I can imagine and look for the stuff that I want. So I need something which will go on the internet and find it for me that too in least possible time. That something is “Google”. It’s the most brilliant and most simple idea. The way google works is very complex but the idea is very simple. Even the google webpage must be the simplest web page.

Facebook is a good example of second type of idea. Remember those good old days when kids used to go to school, parks and camps to make new friends, grownups used to go to parties, clubs, social gathering to meet new people. We never needed a website to make new friend and meet people or to know about our existing friends. But facebook created that need and now it’s most popular “social networking site”. Number of people who use facebook is equal to a country’s population.

However just any of the above two characteristics cannot turn an idea into a business. It needs to be presentable, reusable and adaptable. Facebook and orkut both were based on same ideas, but one is now most valuable name and the other one has completely disappeared. Facebook won over orkut because of presentation. Facebook looks more professional and sophisticated on the other hand orkut looked more amateur. Facebook continuously keeps you updated about your friends. Anyways, I don’t want to turn this into facebook vs orkut.

A product or service should be reusable. Your customers should come back to you again and again for your product or service, then only it can be a sustainable business. Also an idea should be adaptable to changing environment. The product or service should be able to cater to changing needs of consumers. Nokia lacked this quality and they paid very heavy price for that.

Need, presentation, adaptable and reusable these are the basic qualities an idea must have to grow into a big tree.