I’m continuing my series of posts about that moment right after I’ve had what I think is a great idea. In that moment I ask myself “Why hasn’t this been done before?” One possible answer to that question is “Because no one could make the financial numbers work” which I’ll talk through now.
If I others haven’t been able to make the numbers work then you need to figure out if you can. Can you build it more efficiently so that you need a smaller total payback? Can you get your parts at enough of a discount to make it work? Can you remove the payment transactional fees? Have the cost of primary resources changed significantly since the last person tried? Or are you OK not making a living off of this thing or believe you’ll get enough non-monetary value out of it to make it worthwhile. Maybe it will help you form a relationship or spread the word about what you do. One word of caution from my experience – it is tough to rationalize working on things that don’t bring in money when you’re short on time. Your good intentions will be fighting against your psyche.