How good is my idea?

1. “An idea is not the same as a concept”

Be aware that an idea isn’t the same as a concept. It all starts with a single idea: a thought or notion with an abstract goal. But you’re nowhere near done at that point. To turn it into an actual concept, you bring different angles and strengths together. Those parts combine into a set of coherent elements with a clear goal: the concept. Make sure you have a clear picture of all these pieces, because an idea on its own obviously isn’t enough!

2. “Set a goal and stick to it”

Anyone who’s excited about their idea can occasionally get carried away. We catch ourselves doing it too ;) That’s brilliant for your creative process, but not always great for the results. Your idea was dreamt up to serve a specific goal, possibly with sub-goals to build on it. Take Airbnb as an example: the main goal is to bring supply and demand for places to stay together. The sub-goals are things like maximum convenience, transparency and affordability, and so on.

Take enough time to nail down this goal, and revisit it regularly. At first it can feel like you’re going round in circles, but that’s exactly what good scoping needs. An ever-smaller scope: the clearer, the better. To help, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• Who does the concept’s goal matter to? → Who’s your target audience (who’s going to use your product) and what’s the added value for them?
• What’s the main goal of your concept? → What’s the result for the user during or after using your final product?
• Which steps need to be taken to make the concept happen? → The brains, the builders, the boosters?

3. “Be critical and reflect on your ideas”

It goes without saying that you need to believe in your idea when you start developing it. But that doesn’t mean you can stop being critical of your plans and their moving parts. Keep asking yourself critical questions to make sure your concept actually serves the end goal. The goal you set is the anchor you can always fall back on, so you don’t drift off course. To help, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• Does your product really give users the added value you’re expecting it to?
• Is your target audience (or audiences) clear enough, and do they genuinely benefit from your product?
• Is there another product already serving that audience? If so, how does your product set itself apart?

By this point you’re already deep into your concept, and because you’re so personally invested it’s often harder to judge whether you’re still looking at things objectively. So stay open to feedback, and be thoughtful about how you weave it in as you go.

4. “Set clear and realistic expectations”

Once you’ve set your goals, it’s time for another round of evaluation. Your goals can be crystal clear, but if they’re not achievable you’ll get stuck early on. So be aware of your capacity and check whether your expectations line up with it. Map it all out and check whether your related goals are realistic. At the very least, think about the time and money you have available, but above all about what you can expect to get back for them. Also revisit the steps you set out in step 2. Are they still relevant and realistic?

• What’s your own input? → How much time and money can and do you want to put into your concept?
• What do you expect the concept itself to deliver? → How should it look, how should it work?
• What results do you expect from executing your concept? → Which numbers do you want to hit after launching the product?

5. “A concept is always evolving”

Easier said than done, of course. Keep in mind that this can turn into a long-haul project. Concept development is an extensive, creative process that can take a good while. It’s tricky to set an end point here, because in theory a product can always be bigger, better and more beautiful. On top of that, the pieces that make up your concept change over time. Think available resources, target audience or your own vision. For all these reasons, you’ll need to stay open to input and adjustments from different angles.

6. “I’mpossible”

Like every lottery advert ever, we believe in the motto ‘anything is possible’. But once you’ve checked your goals for clarity, feasibility and possible change, go one step further and ask whether they’re really necessary. Technically, an awful lot can be built, but whether it all fits together and adds value is another story.

We love thinking through the options for making a concept real. And we always come back to the core: we don’t necessarily do what you think is best, or what we think is best. We make sure we take the actions that are best for the product’s end goal. That’s what it all comes down to in the end, right?

7. “Communication and transparency are key”

Once you’ve started building the product, communication is one of the most important things to watch. Development is a step-by-step process, so a tight schedule and clear action points are a must. It might sound obvious, but miscommunication about certain expectations can cause big misunderstandings here. By keeping everyone constantly aligned, all the parties involved know how and why something can or can’t be pulled off.

8. “The product is not the finish line”

Your product is finished, all the available time and money have been spent, and a fantastic platform is ready to go. Everyone involved is over the moon with the end result. But once the product is live, the users are nowhere to be found, and those goals you set suddenly feel a long way off. Something we can’t say often enough: don’t forget that the product isn’t the end point of the process! However good our shared result is, a brilliant idea is worthless if no one ever comes across it. Getting a product to market well is just as important as every step before production. You can handle your platform’s marketing yourself, but we’re more than happy to help with that too. After the brains and the builders, we bring in the boosters so your product actually reaches the market and gets used by your target audience.