The next big thing. Why do ideas fail?

The commencement speech delivered by Steve Jobs at Stanford in 2005 was an inexplicable stimulus to the dreamers and the ones who were wary in testing their capabilities. It was a riveting speech on the human attempt of creativity and liberation. He ended the speech with the pulsating quote, ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’. A phrase that pushes people to vouch beyond the average and keep exploring the unknown. No matter what financial background, ethnicity or cult you came from. It gave you the jolt to create something by yourself and bring it out in the open for the world to marvel.

Such was the trigger to the entire start-up culture. Where college grads or dropouts, white collared professionals or artists, new age techies or conservative brick and mortar businessmen could bring purpose and meaning to their routines. Ideas like Facebook, WhatsApp, AirBnB, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. burst onto the scene and joined the ranks of Google which was founded a few years earlier in 1998. Not to forget the gargantuan presence of tech giants like IBM, Microsoft and Apple itself hovering and observing their now equals. These were not mere startups, nor simply businesses established to make profits. These names have shifted the entire human bedrock to unheard levels of ascendance and connectivity. A technological ideology that has seeped in right into the heart of our DNA and alters the course of natural selection in the human race.

Such has been the magnitude of the new age rebellion who has embedded a serious incision in the lives of the global populace. And here has been a problem for the entire start-up culture with the new age graduates or full-time corporate dropouts. The ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’ narrative has gone really foolish with the mass. The 2008 recession pushed individuals to try out a hand at entrepreneurship to be the next big thing in innovation. Sadly, this resulted into scheming CEOs and Directors interested in venture capital and selling out to the big labels. Or random ideas oozing with no purpose or meaning.

Where did the ‘denting the universe’ zeal or the acumen of Jobs, Gates, Buffet, Zuckerberg vanish? To establish value, to change societal habits or to question the status quo what do the breed of entrepreneurs call upon? Creativity and innovation have crisscrossed from being buzz words to cuss words with ideas and ventures failing by the millions. An idea no longer grows organically but on the cajoling of price cuts or coupons.

Figures don’t lie

This has disrupted our market structures and the ethos of harnessing creativity. Earlier one could plan a business, invest, go live and test with small geographies by creating a local market. Today, the global village seduces you to think big. But in the bargain, you have nowhere but the pit to fall upon. The current design of start-ups can only make you an all-star, akin to the big names we witness today or send you right into the dumps. There isn’t any middle playing field where you could sustain and operate. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many all-stars either.

Entrepreneurs might argue explaining the varied facets of business modeling, size, gestation period, scoping, etc. But the cardinal question of generating any sustainable profits for 99.99% of the start-ups threaten to douse the rebel forever. It is only the 0.01% or even lesser who hit the circuit. The rest are unable to even breathe and that has been the complication. True, money is not the only thing that matters for a successful firm and this can be proved in the annals of corporate history. However, the things required to do with money for a firm grounding itself are paramount. This has been the second biggest reason for start-ups to fail and contributes to a whopping 29%.

How can I not mention the questionable ideas that emancipate in the realms of staying foolish? These endeavors go on to burn millions with no intelligence on where to proceed. Entrepreneurs need to focus on relevance to the customers, market and society and stick with the narrative. Your product might not be right for the market today, but you must know on when it would be. This outruns the previous reason and takes the number 1 spot for failures. 42% of start-ups fail because there was never a market need for the product or service. Generating value to the customer as well as the shareholder should be in equilibrium that helps to sustain and scale ideas.

The idea can be highly simple and yet effective just as we witnessed with a technology like WhatsApp. You only need to pin or post a picture on your Pinterest account to categorize a theme and the thing works. AirBnB simply connects travelers to homeowners across the world, this idea is disrupting the entire travel industry. Unfriendly user interface too costs dearly and accounts for 17% to the failure reasons.

Simple ideas when juxtaposed to the great human need can indeed bring wonders or an all-star. But to think of this to happen overnight is utterly foolish. The temptation to scale early must be kept at bay. Changing ideas often within a framework is fatal too. Creators must reside at the core of the idea, designs at the top can alter. The heart should however be constant and in rhythm to bring value, curiosity and scale with the right teams and therefore making it utterly relevant. Before you go, you must listen to the iconic Stanford speech by the legendary Steve Jobs.