Last week an old employee of mine called me to get my opinion on a new business idea he had. For privacy reasons, I’ll neither take the real name of the guy nor talk anything specific about the idea. Instead let us talk about the concern he had.
He felt that his idea wasn’t unique. He felt that there are other products or services in the market with similar features.
To which I replied, “So what?”
“How can I do something that another company is already doing?” he says.
I asked him if he had ever been to a restaurant. I asked him if he had ever been to a cinema. I asked him if he had ever been to a grocery store. I asked him if he had ever been to a book shop. I asked him if he had ever bought a mobile phone. I asked him …
He started to get an idea of where this was going. I hope you are too, dear reader.
Every restaurant serves food. Every cinema shows movies. Every grocery store sells grocery. Every book shop sells books. Every mobile phone looks the same and serves the same purpose.
The primary features, outcomes, benefits and advantages of a product/service can all be almost the same. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what uniqueness you bring to it over and above that.
What uniqueness means in this context is finding one (or more) features/benefits that makes your idea stand apart from a crowd of clones. And, using that uniqueness in your marketing message, sales calls and positioning statements.
The idea that an idea has to be unique to be worthy of your attention as an entrepreneur is deeply flawed.
One of these three things can happen:
- You will not find anything unique and years will pass by
- You will find some (or many) unique ideas and realize that no one wants to pay for them
- You will find a unique idea that changes the world and makes you a millionaire
If you are just starting out and don’t have very deep pockets and a 7 figure bank balance, I wouldn’t suggest betting on #3 above. Do what you can in your own unique way and make a common idea successful.
Consider not spending the early stages of your entrepreneurial life finding an idea that no one has ever had. Instead, see if you can learn more about challenges in entrepreneurship itself.
Are YOU running after an elusively unique idea? Let me know.
Uniquely yours,
Abhilash Purohit