Back in 2005, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian had a vision...
They wanted to build the world's first mobile food delivery app.
Sounds smart, right?
But this was back in 2005.
There were no iPhones, no App Store, and no Uber Eats.
Most people were still texting with flip phones and T9 keyboards.
But they believed in the idea, and pitched it to Paul Graham, the guy behind Y Combinator.
If you've never heard of Y Combinator, it's a startup accelerator responsible for funding companies like Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Coinbase, and Reddit.
Anyway... Paul listened to their pitch. And hated the idea.
“We're not funding that. But you two are smart. Come back with something better.”
So they did.
A few weeks later, they showed up with a new idea:
A website where people can share the most interesting stuff they find online.
And they decided to name the site Reddit.
Yeah, that Reddit — the front page of the internet.
But here's the thing...
That food delivery app wasn't necessarily a bad idea. They were just too early.
If they had pitched it in 2013 instead of 2005, they could've owned the entire damn market.
Timing Can Make or Break a Good Idea
Which brings me to my next point...
Most ideas don't fail because they suck.
Sometimes, they fail because the market isn't ready yet.
You can have a brilliant product. You can have a solid plan. You can even be convinced that people need what you're building.
But if the demand isn't there, you're going to have a hard time getting people to pay for it.
And that means you could spend years — and a lot of money — trying to convince people to buy something they aren't ready for.
Before You Build, Look for Demand
So before you invest your time and money into your next big idea, ask yourself one simple question:
“Is there actual demand for this?”
Are people already looking for a solution?
Are they spending money to solve this problem?
And are they willing to pay for the solution you're offering?
Because there's a big difference between a great idea...
And a product people are actually willing to pay for.
Until next time,
Daniel Mighty
The Visionary Gazette
