Our article last week focused on some of the missing links in our country’s young startup ecosystem. This week we decided to focus on how you can identify ideas and turn them into viable businesses. Coincidentally this topic fits in well with our promising future following the 2018 harmonised elections. Startups have an important role to play in the development of the new economy and Tech Hub Harare is excited to be part of the Zimbabwean ecosystem at this time. As an accelerator and facilitator of startup development in the country, we are helping startups turn ideas into profitable startups.
Where do you find the ideas for your startup? This is a question we hope to help you answer. There is no hard and fast rule on how you should go about finding the right idea. However making sure the idea is the right one is the hardest part. Many startups are big businesses today because their founders spent a lot of time identifying the unmet needs. If they had not done that they would not have succeeded in creating unique businesses.
Identifying the right idea
Identifying the right idea, is your first problem after you decide that you want to to build a startup. Where do you find the ideas, we mean the ones that identify problems that need solving? When you have lurched onto a good idea how do you start? How do you go to market? How do you get funding? There are many questions that need to be answered, but the most important of them all is, are you passionate about my idea and how far am i willing to go to make sure it succeeds? Passion and persistence are key ingredients of any successful startup.
Now that you have shown your passion for startups by reading this far, let’s now turn to how you can find the right idea to build your very own startup. In Zimbabwe there are quite a number of problems that need solving, but how does one choose the right one. Many people rush to copy the latest money making trend and usually get disappointed when they fail to make as much money as the people who were first to launch the idea. Often the difference is lack of home and execution methodologies. Successful startups take the right steps and follow proven execution paths.
Twists and turns
In 2014, a startup that we have worked with introduced a t-shirt printing service in Harare City Centre. Like many startups at the time, the founder felt that the market needed his service. As soon as the startup launched they soon discovered that the industry had many business similar to their venture and more businesses were being launched in the same space, increasing competition and depressing margins. New competitors were offering products and services at a fraction of the cost. This worried the startup founder who had to think really fast on how to defend their business to avoid losing out on their investment. Whilst the business survived it had to quickly pivot and come up more innovative ways in order to survive. As startup owner you will find that you will constantly have to twist and turn your idea to make it successful.
In order to find the right idea for your startup there a number of unavoidable steps that you must take. Most successful startup ideas are triggered by an unmet need. If yours is not, try and not waste your time investing time and money in your idea. It will fail, no matter how fancy it sounds. There is also a reason this is important. If you decide to start a business which does not address an unmet need you are no different from the traditional corner shop. Not that there something wrong with a successful corner shop.
Startups that start with an unmet need usually succeed because they creating something new or unique. By addressing these problems or challenges that are affecting people, they create their own market and ultimately profits. People are willing to pay for such products and services, because they take out the pain for users. Startups challenge the status quo and in doing so, get rewarded by customers and investors.
Address unmet needs with a disruptive idea
There is always a danger when starting out, of thinking that you have the right solution to a problem when you don’t. Often founders get emotionally attached to an idea without doing enough homework just because they think it will work. The step by step approach to starting on your startup reduces the risk of failure in a lot of startups. In Zimbabwe there a lot of opportunities to address unmet needs in disruptive ways. We covered some startups doing just that a few weeks ago.
“How to start a start-up” by Funders and Founders, has become a very popular flowchart that gives a step by step approach to identifying an unmet need and building a startup that has more chances to succeed than most businesses started in other ways. The key takeaway from this approach is prototyping.
Start with a prototype
Why is this important? Many founders believe in starting out at scale when they have identified their idea. This usually leads to a lot of pain because if your idea does not work (most ideas don’t work, first time out anyway) you lose out and more importantly you will have wasted resources that could be used to start another idea that is way better than your first one.
Starting with a prototype is the best way to build your startup. A prototype is a minimum viable product or service that allows you to test the market. Prototypes are easy to roll out as they often just involve a few features. As the product develops features are then added. If your prototype shows traction with a few customers you can build on it further and then launch your product and add features. That way you are assured that your startup will succeed.
Now that you have seen what steps you should take to start you own startup what ideas can you look at. Unmet needs in Zimbabwe might be slightly different to those of other countries but they are quite similar.
Take a look at the table above and you will notice that many startups being developed today fit into these 22 categories. To identify your own startup, start here. If you need any help with tools and space to build your startup, Tech Hub Harare is there to help you. We want to hear from you. Get in touch with us at hararehub@gmail.com or www.cowork.co.zw.
Until next time happy idea hunting.
