“Is this a good business idea?”

I look down at my phone, and I see there’s a text from Maria. Before I open it, I can anticipate what it says. "Hey Michele, I have a new business idea that I’d love to bounce off of you. Can we schedule some time to chat?"

I get this question often. And rightfully so. I’ve started a lot of businesses, and I’ve had a lot of ideas. Some worked, most didn't. I'm the person people go to when they have something they are excited about. 

I want to help people. Still, I also want to say, "Maria, it doesn’t matter what I think of the idea, it matters what the world thinks, and if the world thinks your idea is good, if customers buy it, then you have a winner! Now go out and prototype the damn thing and stop sending texts to ME!" I don't end up texting these exact words, but something to that effect. 

I'm Maria. I know what it feels like to be in that period of an early idea. You are vulnerable, and you want people to agree that you’ve stumbled on something extraordinary. You want to feel good. You don’t want to be challenged. Ideas are an extension of who we are, and most of the time, they are good at helping us figure out what we want to see in the world. So when we put an idea out there, we are putting ourselves out there. 

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, talks a lot about how ideas, even million-dollar ones, are most vulnerable in their infancy, so don’t share them with too many people. This advice is counter to the Silicon Valley point of view: to share your idea with everyone so you can refine it because it’s not about the idea; it’s all about the execution. 

I agree with Sara Blakely that you shouldn’t go around asking those that would never be your customer about your idea, but the way to handle fragile items is not to lock them in a cabinet; it’s to handle them with care. The only way to test if you have a good idea is to see if people want it. If they need it.

I know why people don't like my response to this question. Ideas are nice and cozy in our minds. We resist putting them out there for people to evaluate because there is a chance that the beautiful, perfect scenario that we’ve conjured up will be shattered when we have some new inputs. Ideas are perfect inside our minds because they are safe from judgment.

But here’s the fantastic thing: your ideas get better once you start building them and sharing them with the world. Yes, it’s scary at first, but it’s the only way to see if your idea is worth pursuing. If you believe in your idea, you do yourself a disservice by ignoring your nagging inner voice and keeping it to yourself. 

Elizabeth Gilbert says that “ideas spend eternity swirling around us, searching for available and willing human partners and that when an idea thinks it has found somebody – say, you – who might be able to bring it into the world, the idea will pay you a visit.”

I will use this to form another question that I might ask Maria about her business idea. 

“Maria, was that idea meant for you? Is it yours?”