Another component of the venture idea, which is central in an entrepreneurs’ thinking, is the conceptualized offering. In the zeal to create a venture, the conceptualized offering sometimes may appear trivial or could be a misfit on multiple aspects – say, with the individual aspirations, capabilities, and the existing ecosystem.
Capability-Idea mismatch: We meet entrepreneurs who come in with strong capability and skills, but the nature of the venture idea that they work on is too trivial and does not do justice to their training and capability. It may be a thoughtful attempt to develop something, so that, even if the idea is trivial, it allows one to try their hand at the first business. This enables one to pick up the nuances of the entrepreneurial process before taking the plunge to develop something more substantial. However, we find that the mismatch between the capability of the individual, their aspirations, and what they are developing, happens repeatedly in the journey.
An example that comes to mind here, is when a commerce student from a local college wrote to us seeking funding for developing a time-machine! The applicant claimed that he had a theoretical insight that could develop a prototype at the cost of around INR 5 Lakh. We were dumbstruck at the claim. There was no supporting credential to show that the claim was genuine, nor did we have the technical prowess to evaluate if its truth. We suggested the applicant to reach out to a reputed science institute in the city, which would be more apt to evaluate the claim. This is why it is essential to ask oneself – am I doing this to gain confidence, or to derive a kick out of the experience, or to learn from the challenges of the process? Have I made a claim that is in line with my knowledge and capability?
If one seeks to gather the confidence in driving the entrepreneurial process, it may be more suitable to work as an intern or as part of a start-up team, before deciding to take the plunge. An alignment between the individual skills/capabilities, and the venture idea pursued, helps reduce mental dissonances over a longer horizon in the journey and heightens the motivation.
Ecosystem-Idea mismatch: The second aspect that we find important to consider when we are thinking of the offering is the alignment with the existing ecosystem. In most cases, entrepreneurs assume the existence of the necessary support for their offerings. Some offerings may be ahead of their time to get to the market. It is, therefore, important to think through the offering, consider the components that you need to create yourself either due to its non-existence, or the existence being relatively weaker in the ecosystem. Ponder over the scenario and ask yourself if the offering remains attractive to you, if these components have to be developed in-house.
The way to go about involving and integrating these missing components would have to be through partnerships. Partnering with other actors to build the missing components is beneficial here. Otherwise, you need to internalize and spend a substantial amount trying to construct these missing elements in-house.
The repeated attempts at developing a reliable electric vehicle for almost a century, is a case in point here. The ecosystem has had multiple bottlenecks that continue to be resolved before we have an electric vehicle, which would be a replacement for the crude oil-based vehicles.
Offering Triviality: The third aspect is the triviality of the offering. It’s not uncommon that you may think of an idea that you can build on and take it ahead. As technology-savvy individuals, we often find people trying out developing different search engines, analytic engines, and assembling these and believing that these would be excellent businesses to build. These are nice hobbies and indicate what your capabilities are, but does not mean anything beyond that. There are so many ideas that people try to implement and not proceed further, so it is alright just to leave it there. If you choose to continue, then see if you can partner and provide these to someone else and continue to improve. Or else, think about a new idea where your capabilities can be used more centrally on the offering.
Ask yourself:
Why am I building this offering?
Do I feel enriched having tried it, even if I do not take the offering to the market?
Is this just a hobby for me or am I serious about it? How do my skill sets and connections link up here?
Is the ecosystem I need for this offering available? Do I know what the ‘must-have’ components in the ecosystem are? How do I build them, if there is a need for such components?
Can I use some ideas to sharpen my skills and demonstrate it to others, who may have serious ideas that I could be part of?