Download This guide contains tips and advice to consider when

Idea Development Guide
This guide contains tips and advice to consider when developing your idea for the
UQBATE Incubation Program. Below are solutions to common mistakes when
developing an initial idea.
Do one thing well.
Identify a particular area where your business can do something better than anyone
else, and make this the primary focus of your idea. New companies fail that try to do
too much. Over reaching is called trying to “boil the ocean.”
Pursue one revenue stream.
A new company only has the ability to plan, manage and optimize one revenue
source at a time. Describing multiple revenue streams without in-depth knowledge
of how they work makes you look naive, especially when there is less than a dozen
people working with you.
Avoid complex models.
The best models are the simplest, such as market to users and then users make a
purchase. If your model requires four or more steps to happen before you earn
money, especially if the steps are cumbersome, like entering significant data, then
you need to simplify.
Be clear about what you are making.
Explain what you are planning to build, not “the business” that you are in. Avoid
business buzzwords and jargon that have different meaning to different people. Are
you building installed software, an online service or a hardware device? State what
you are making, who will use it, and why they want it.
Address chicken and egg situations head on.
If your business model has a chicken and egg dilemma, you must explain how you
will overcome the dilemma within the first couple sentences of describing your idea.
Most marketplace ideas have a chicken and egg dilemma with how to get the first
buyers and sellers. Generally, it is better to attract buyers, as sellers will follow the
money.
Make it defensible.
If somebody can copy your idea quickly, then you need to find ways to make the idea
defensible. Capturing market share quickly, doing large partnerships or super serving
a niche audience are good ways to make a simple idea defensible.
Address large markets.
Any idea in a market with less than 1 million people or less than $1 billion in annual
revenues is small and will be very hard to address. If you have an idea in a small
market, look for a way to for the idea to be relevant in a larger market. Addressing a
smaller market is fine as a launch strategy.
Avoid arbitrage businesses in competitive markets.
Any idea where you are trying to attract customers in a field where your partners
and competitors spend millions in marketing is very hard. Marketing online is
efficient and cutthroat, and customer acquisition costs are a race to the bottom.