There are no good ideas so start failing instead

Some straight talk from a guy who founded a global empire.

We’re told that ideas can change the world. Believe in yourself. Ignore the naysayers. Just do it.

It’s what we want to believe.

But, as I learned recently, it’s a lie.

What if I told you there are no good ideas and your exciting new idea will probably fail?

Feeling pumped?

Well, before you cry “Heretic!” and burn me at the stake, let me explain.

You don’t know what you don’t know

To be successful, what you need most is hard evidence.

Maybe your idea will change the world. But on day one, when it’s still in your head, you don’t know that for sure.

So what’s the solution?

You will never know what works and what doesn’t until you collide your idea with reality.

This is the key insight from Netflix co-founder and first CEO, Marc Randolph, in his podcast: That will never work.

Until you’ve tried it for real, you’re guessing

As you probably already know, Netflix started out offering movie rental by mail. They had the basic idea many years ago, but it just didn’t work sending VHS tapes in the mail — too big, too fragile. So they shelved the idea.

Then one day, they heard about this new invention, the DVD. They figured a DVD is thin and light, and should be easy enough to send in the mail. So they dusted off the old movie rental idea.

And what was the first thing they did?

Build a paper prototype? Nope.

Draw up a business plan? Nope.

In depth customer interviews? Nope.

How Netflix collided with reality

They put a used CD (DVDs were so new they couldn’t even find one!) in an envelope and posted it to themselves. Financial modelling and customer data were of no use if the disk couldn’t survive the US Postal service.

As it turned out, the disk arrived safely in the mailbox the next day. Big tick.

Now they knew it was possible to post a DVD, they could go and figure out if people were interested and how to build a profitable business out of it.

Reality is a great teacher

It might seem pretty obvious that a DVD could easily be sent in the post. But until they did it, they didn’t know it. And when the cost of knowing was a 40 cent stamp, it made no sense to build the business on a hunch.

The other major benefit of doing it for real is that you notice all kinds of details that aren’t obvious in your head.

Who does the washing?

A good example from the podcast is the college student who dreamed of building a peer-to-peer clothes sharing app. Marc’s simple advice was to hold off on building the technology.

Instead, he suggested she simply stick a note on her door saying "Want to borrow my clothes? Knock!"

By doing this, she was able to collide directly with the realities of swapping and renting clothes. If nobody knocks, does that mean no one is interested? If they do knock, what would they want to borrow? For how long? How much would they pay? Who does the washing?

Become irresistible

By surfacing these realities, she was able to hone the idea and create a much stronger business.

Before she even launched, she could eliminate any objections customers might have and build a truly irresistible offer.

There are no good ideas

Randolph suggests that no matter how great your new idea seems, you’re better off to assume it’s not that great.

It’s inevitable that some element of the idea doesn’t work or isn’t as good as it could be (yet). But when you collide your idea with reality, all sorts of useful new details come to light that will help you improve the idea.

In the new podcast, you can listen in as Marc coaches entrepreneurs at different stages and helps them apply this idea to their businesses. The discussions are fascinating and you’re bound to pick up some lessons and key questions that are relevant to your own endeavours.

I’d also recommend the interview he did on The Tim Ferriss Show. They talk about his background and he shares a number of anecdotes that help explain the philosophy behind his approach.

Now what?

It’s always deflating when the people around you don’t see what you see. You have this great idea, and they just don’t get it.

This is where I think Randolph’s idea can help.

Assume your idea sucks

Even though it’s confronting to think that your idea is no good, it can actually be liberating and really help to focus the mind.

Now you have just one job: find out why.

Every answer you get, is an improvement you can make. Keep going.

Then, instead of sitting back protecting your idea, you can step up and start improving it. Again and again.

And the only way for your idea to improve and grow is for it to experience obstacles and overcome them.

So sure, ignore the naysayers, believe in your idea and have a go.

But at the same time, assume it’s broken. Then collide it with reality until you figure out how and why.

Once you solve those problems, then you’ll really have something that can change the world.

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Photo by Josh Marshall on Unsplash