Good Idea? Bad Idea?

Last week I wrote a post about why you should share your ideas, with the bottom line being “If you’re scared you’re going to get screwed, you’re never going to get laid.”  In the comments Young and Frugal, and Brazen Careerist reader JRandom prompted me with a great question, which I will answer to the best of my ability.

So what happens after your ideas get a good listen and are rejected? Do you keep pushing them? Do you modify them in light of skeptical criticism? Do you take them elsewhere? Or what?

Throughout my entire senior year in college I poured my heart and soul into a business plan with three other people.  We knew our concept was amazing, and we all still believe it to be amazing.  I’ll even give you a three word pitch on it right now: Healthy Fast Food. 

We entered this plan into a few nationwide business plan competitions and everyone loved it, but we never won.  There are many valid reasons why we didn’t win, after all who wants to invest in a restaurant concept, with low margins, run by four college kids with no experience?  These flaws aside, the biggest thing I learned from this experience is that ideas (business plans in particular) are living, breathing, and growing things; they need constant attention and you can’t get ahead of yourself.  We met with investors and executives daily to pitch and pick their brains on our concept, which would lead to us re-writing our 30 page plan and reworking our powerpoint many many times.

For us, putting the plan aside was a matter of time and money.  We didn’t have the money to put into it, all of us would be jobless upon graduation, and 2 of us were getting married a month after graduation (my wife was on the team).

At the end of the day it all depends on how you feel about your idea.  Deep down, I think we all know whether our ideas are good or if they are crap.  The key is how much thought you have put into it’s execution.  How many people you have talked to about it, talking with other people gives you different perspectives.  Someone may find a fatal flaw in your plan, but if you have the passion for your concept you can work to find a solution. 

The bottom line is that we don’t possess our good ideas, they possess us.  Once you are possessed you have true passion to keep trying, when you are knocked down, you get up you take your passion to someone else to try again.

Howard Schultz was possessed by Starbucks.  He was possessed enough to pester them until they found a place for him in their company.  He was possessed enough to move from New York to Seattle.  And when he had the opportunity to buy and grow Starbucks, he was passionate enough to spend a year trying to raise $1.25 Million.  And it was his passion for his vision that led him to pitch the concept to potential investors 242 times, just to have 217 say no.  But in the end it didn’t matter that 217 said no, it mattered that about 30 said yes.  (Source)

What happens if you are possessed by a bad idea?  I don’t know, and sometimes people do just need to learn to give up, but next time you are in a plane, reach in the seatback in front of you and read the SkyMall magazine.  It’s full of them, and it goes to show that even some bad ideas can still make some money (assuming that people buy anything out of there).