For a talk we gave at the Founders Institute in Miami on how to approach your vision and idea for a product. Ideas are worth very little, if you don't believe that then go try to sell an idea. It's more important to focus on a problem people are experiencing and then how to solve it. Still though, any idea or problem you discovered means little without execution. You can get in touch: http://www.codelitt.com/contact You can read more of our thoughts at: http://www.codelitt.com/blog

1. Vision and Ideas
Founder Institute
by
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2. Much ado about nothing
• Ideas are easy. Execution is hard.
• Validation and execution of a terrible
idea is more important than your best
idea on a shelf
• Everyone has an idea
• Ideas are not valuable
• Don’t believe me? Try to sell one
• Vision and ideas are important; not
valuable

3. Find a problem, not an idea
• If you’re working on an idea, better
yet, a problem you care about, it will
keep you going.
• Ideas will change. Most startups end
up nothing like the original idea.
• 99% of the time, they’re still trying to
solve the same problem though
• Easier to have vision and passion
about solving a problem.

4. How?
The most important thing every
entrepreneur should know:
JUST GET STARTED

5. Write it down: Field notes
• Write down 10 every day
• They don’t have to be good
• Write down:
– When you have a frustration/problem
– Ideas in the shower
– Every time you think, “Man, why isn’t this
done like that.”
– Every time you think you see an opportunity
– What is intolerable
• A world of opportunities

6. Ask it as a question
• Assertions come with critics. They
come with expectations.
• Questions are open ended.
• They allow you to be wrong, so long as
it leads to other questions.
From Paul Graham's Essay: Ideas, October
2005

7. Narrow them down
• Which ones excite you?
• What problems are you willing to give
up your whole life, at least for a few
years, to solve?
• Do you have domain expertise in one?
• Are there any that have competitors
who are doing it particularly well?

8. Idea canvas

9. Idea Canvas
• Take your top 5 ideas and fill one of
these out
• Scratch these out. They’re not a
blueprint. They’re a starting point.
• You’ll come away with clear winners.
• Pick the one you’re ready to dedicate
your life to. By now you should know
your motivations.
• Download: https://goo.gl/R6cErB

10. Validate
• MOST IMPORTANT PART OF AN
IDEA/PROBLEM
• People waste years and thousands of
dollars on an idea that doesn’t solve a
problem and no one will pay for.
• Don’t be this person.
• Don’t be stubborn.
• The free market doesn’t care about
your excuses.