Winning in Business Realize your potential. By Boris Revsin.

Startup III: Getting Started… from the VERY beginning

This is a follow-up to my previous post about asking for help. Check it out first.

My last post got quite a few people emailing/FB messaging me to ask just WHEN is a good time to ask someone more experienced for help. Many of these people had legitimately good (I.E: they have a chance) ideas, but had NOTHING at all to show yet. Just a simple thought they wanted to share.

This post will serve two purposes:

1) I want to clarify my previous post. In it, I asked people to have some serious prototype or information before they asked for help. What I didn’t mention was that if all you want to do is see if I like the idea (in a vacuum - without knowledge of the industry, competitors or logistics), than please by all means: SHARE! It’s only when you request my HELP or serious advice that I ask you come to me with something more solid.

This takes me to point…

2) You have a good idea and you don’t know what to do with it. You’ve never started a business before and you just have no idea how to even take Step 1. Cool - I’m going to try to help you below.

Boris Revsin’s “First 3-Step program to stop talking and start DOING”

1) Do a FRIEND TEST. The idea of a friend test has been all over business advice books for a while now. All you have to do is put together a list of 20 of your friends. Track them down and give them the pitch. Ask them to rate the idea from 0-5. Get an average you’re happy with, and you’ve got a solid idea. Get a 0, 1 or 2 and go back to the drawing board. Pretty simple. If 20 of your friends don’t like your idea, chances are neither will anyone else. Disclaimer: If your idea is some sort of funky invention only you would understand (and be able to build), better to ask those with experience. This should be obvious.

2) Put something down on paper (and by that I mean a word document or an excel sheet - don’t be the dumbass who loses his “journal” because mom cleaned out your desk drawer).

Documents to construct:
-An excel sheet of everyone who can help you with this idea. With contact information.
-A 1-page document explaining the product and why it will win. Attach visuals if necessary. This document MUST include evidence as to why YOU are the right person for the job.
-An excel sheet detailing start-up costs. If you don’t know exactly - guess. If you don’t know at all - pick a new idea.

-A timeline. NO: this is NOT financial projections. I don’t care that VC’s want to see a 5-year plan for sales goals. Seriously, if you are a student in college and you’re showing me a 5-year financial plan: I will slap you for wasting time. Nobody, not even VC’s, actually buy these things. Save your typing hand for when you’re in the (un)lucky position of actually NEEDING to bullshit an investor. The timeline I am looking for is a SIMPLE document that shows your 1 month goals for the idea. When will you have the documents above finished? When do you want to build a prototype? When will you be reaching out to people for help? When do you want to talk to a lawyer about incorporating your business (HIGHLY recommended you DON’T do this yourself)? Anything and everything should be simply defined.

Remember: only you hold yourself accountable for this timeline. Don’t make shit up.

3) Start contacting the people on the list you made. You now have a good amount of documentation to show that you are serious. If you do all the work I just asked for and then ask me for help, there is NO way I will say no.

Good luck!