How do you know your business idea is not going to work for you

9 Ways to know your startup idea is a flop

You think you have a great startup idea? You might want to think again. Entrepreneurs in their quest for businesses that can make them money, often goes through series of bad ideas before settling into one that works.
But how can you even know which idea of yours will be a total flop? While there are no derived criteria for evaluating a startup idea, but there are indicators which will guide you whether the idea that you are thinking of might be a waste of time and money.


So here are the 9 ways to know your startup idea is a flop.

1. Get someone to tell you its a flop

The sure way to know that your idea is a flop is if someone tells you that your idea will not work. Get in touch with experts, whom you trust in the similar field and take feedback from them. The question asked should be straight, that what they think of your idea.
Take them for a lunch, ask them straight, and respect their thoughts when they say your idea is a flop as they might be knowing something you don’t. It’s a good think to know in advance than to spend money and time over its bleak future.

2. If you’re not excited by the idea

Its always helpful to take others opinion on an idea, but the best person who can tell you with real certainty whether your idea is worth pursuing is – you. You are the best gauge of whether an idea is worthwhile, or not worth the trouble.
Ask one question to yourself: do you feel passionately about your idea? If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, then why should anyone else.

3. Not getting any help

As an entrepreneur, for pursuing your idea you might need outside help. The help might come from investors, experts or friends and family members.
However, if you can’t seem to find the support you need to get your business off the ground, that might be a sign that your idea isn’t very good.

4. It isn’t scalable

How big is the business that you want to start? If the answer restricts to be a small one, then rethink again. While some businesses are bigger than others, the most successful businesses can start out relatively small and grow bigger over time.
Brahm Kiran Singh, founder of CoachPal, a tutoring service for engineering students in India, also emphasized the importance of scalability in assessing business ideas.
“There should be a large number of target clients and it should be easy to scale to them,” Singh said in an email. “A restaurant business is not as scalable as a SAAS business.”

5. It’s overhyped

Many people get hyped about the cool new thing and try to get in on it. Don’t get into things because it’s the current trend as it might not last longer to be a good startup idea and can be a total flop. If its already cool, then you are late in the game.

6. Its not necessary

Your focus should be towards things which are must have rather than the good to have. The good to doesn’t offer something new, they must offer something people actually need.
Let’s take the situation of cloud based services. Its an area where entrepreneurs often make mistakes. They often confuse novelty and utility.

7. It’s not generating a buzz

To determine if your idea is worth pursuing, you might want to consider test your business idea in the largest pool of public opinion which is the internet. Get your idea tested, its not about making money out of the gate, but ensuring that the idea works well with people.

8. Your market is too small

If the market that you are targeting is too small, you might want to rethink your idea for a startup. If it is a niche product or service, it probably isn’t a good idea unless the niche market is substantial in size and test sales are tremendous.

9. Your idea is confusing

If no one, including you, can explain what exactly your business idea is all about, it’s probably not an idea worth pursuing. Start finding answers to –

• The purpose of your business
• Values of your business
• Main functions of your business
• What’s unique in your idea which others don’t have