9 June 2008
Not following through on an idea
Posted by Alistair Croll under: Creating great products; Startups .
A lot of startups have great ideas. But unless they follow through with them to the end, they can backfire.
Like mugs, for example. I was at a Starbucks in the Bay Area recently and someone brought in their own mug to avoid using paper cups.
Unfortunately, Starbucks tracks cups by writing your name and order on them. It’s how they survive the chaos of the morning rush. So the same company that says, “save the planet, use a mug,” puts those mugs in paper cups to keep track of them.
A lot of startups have a great idea, but they fail to think it through all the way. This is a great example of the consequences of thinking it through. If you have a concept, you need test cases. You need to describe your end user in great detail, then build a prototype, then watch them use it, and then iterate quickly.
2 Comments so far...
Aaron deMello Says:
25 June 2008 at 12:57 pm.
Brilliant metaphor.