How to Share Your Business Idea To Be Successful?

Launching an entrepreneurial venture of their own is a dream nursed by many Indians. As per the results released by the Randstad Workmonitor survey, a whopping 83% of the Indian workforce aspires to become an entrepreneur when compared to the global average of just 53%. However, sharing a business idea may be quite intimidating for many budding entrepreneurs. Are you one among those who still think that sharing may lead to stealing your business ideas? Or it will help your competitors gain the upper hand over your business venture? Then it’s high time for you to realise that all these are wrong notions. Contrary to popular belief, sharing of business ideas comes with enormous benefits.

Let’s delve deep into the various advantages of sharing your business ideas and how it will help you emerge more successful in the long run.

1. Gain valuable feedback – It happens many times that you have come up with a fantastic business idea. However, it’s not necessary that it is feasible to market your idea or scale your business in the long run. As per the study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value and Oxford Economics, 90% of Indian start-ups shut down their business in the first five years. The shocking reason attributed to their failure is the lack of innovation.

Hence discussing the business idea with people whom you trust will help you gain valuable insights. It will help you understand in-depth about your competitors or the challenges you were not aware of before. In short, by not sharing your business ideas with others, you are restricting yourself from understanding the potential of your idea.

2. Prepare yourself for the future – While sharing your ideas with trusted people, they may ask many valid questions. The questions may range from “in a highly competitive market, how do you plan to differentiate your product from the rest of the competitors?”, “is it the right time to launch your offering?” or “do you think that you will be able to build a huge customer base?”

Such questions will aid you in being better prepared while answering the questions raised by investors, media and journalists in the future. For receiving funding from investors, you need to be well prepared. The reports by Forbes indicate that only less than 1% of the start-up firms receive investment capital. Hence it’s quite essential to provide valid justifications to the investors that your business idea is viable and can make big bucks in the future.

3. Build a community – In the modern world, managing business is all about collaboration and engagement. When you discuss your business idea with your close friends and colleagues, you create a group of prospective customers. The more you are passionate about your business concept, the more it evokes interest among the listeners to try out your product or service in the future. Thus, by involving others in every stage of building your business, you are creating a community that can spread word-of-mouth publicity for your entrepreneurial venture.

4. It’s all about how you market your idea – As we discussed earlier, you might be worried about the fact that others may steal your business ideas. Though the first-mover advantage may give you an upper hand, it ultimately depends on how successful you are in selling your business concept. A typical example is the success stories of E-commerce ventures such as Flipkart and Amazon in India.

The idea of e-commerce or delivering goods at customers’ doorsteps was launched in western countries years back. Companies such as Amazon and E-bay ran their operations successfully much before Flipkart, and Myntra introduced the same business concept here in India. In the initial stages, they were funded by venture capitalists, and later they expanded their business pan India. As per the reports by The Wall Street Journal, in 2018, the US retail giant Walmart bought a 77% stake in Flipkart that amounts to $16 billion.

5. Get inspired by others – When you speak to others, you will naturally get a fresh perspective. The inspiring stories shared by your trusted people will help you excel in your business field. Though reading books, business magazines, and blogs can motivate you to a certain extent, it can never replace human interaction. You cannot forget the fact that there may be a better way of implementing your idea. Also, speaking with others helps gain knowledge on several new techniques and efficient methods that can save you money.

6. It’s a win-win situation – Sometimes it happens that the people with whom you discuss your ideas may also get benefitted. Take the case where you are toying with the idea of launching an online retail business in your city. In the earlier stage, you discussed with your school friends about your pet project.

A friend of yours who is dealing with the flower business may be quite interested in getting listed on your online store. He may be facing a slump in the retail business due to the challenges posed by Covid-19. Hence, by entering into a tie-up with your firm, he is getting an alternative avenue for selling his products. He may also prove to be the right person to offer you valuable suggestions such as approaching other businesses for listing, the ideal amount of commission to charge from retailers etc.

In short, both you and your friend are equally benefited by your business idea. Thus, discussions may lead to win-win situations.

7. A mentor can help you solve problems – There are certain situations when you really don’t know how to tackle a particular issue. In such cases, a mentor can prove to be immensely helpful. For, eg. you have come up with a novel idea of servicing cars without using water. However, you are not sure about how to erect your equipment on the premises. A retired hand from the automobile industry can offer you valuable guidance.

Especially if you are planning to launch a sole proprietorship business, having a person to seek advice is inevitable. It can be in diverse areas such as technical aspects, sourcing finance, manufacturing, marketing and many other functions. However, ensure that the mentor you choose is well knowledgeable and trustworthy. Otherwise, there are chances that they may share your business idea with others.

Conclusion

The Indian business arena is brimming with new ideas and innovations. To stand out from the competition, it’s essential to develop an innovative business concept. As an aspiring entrepreneur, you no longer have to be concerned by the thought that sharing of business ideas may backfire while launching your venture. As discussed above, now experience enormous benefits by sharing your business ideas. It ranges from valuable advice from experienced hands to learning how to sail your venture smoothly during tough phases.

Also Read:

1) 7 Mistakes You Need to Avoid For Reducing Logistics Costs
2) 10 Tips on How to Manage your Left-over Inventory
3) Tips and Tricks To Sell Your Product in Marketplaces
4) Top 10 Sources to Get Your Startup Funded

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FAQs

Q. Do Venture Capitalists steal business ideas?

Ans. The objective of venture capital funds and angel investors is to fund companies with high potential, not to manage or operate businesses directly. Hence you can be assured that they don’t steal your business ideas or turn out to be your competitors in the future.

Q. How can I protect my idea legally?

Ans. There are 5 legal tools that can be used effectively for protecting your ideas. They are patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, unfair competition laws, and trade secrets. You can also make use of more than one of these legal tools for a single design or innovation.

Q. Do corporations pay for business ideas?

Ans. You need to realise that all companies face challenges and they are looking for great ideas to solve them. To stay in business, companies are looking for continuous improvement. Hence, most companies will be willing to pay if your ideas can fix their problems in the best possible way.

Top 7 reasons to share your business ideas