How do I sell my business idea? I have a great business idea but I want to sell it to someone rather than build a business myself.
Sorry to dampen your enthusiasm, but this is not the way things work. Ideas are nearly worthless. It’s execution that creates value.
Imagine an investment that has a 1% chance of giving you a fantastic return, a 10% chance of giving you an okay return and a 89% chance of no return and losing all the money you put in.
Would you invest?
No? Most other investors wouldn’t either. When you are trying to sell an idea which is not proven, these are the kind of odds.
People don’t buy ideas – they buy income streams. Either actual ones or potential ones that are backed by something solid such as research, contracts or sales.
What if you can’t prove that your idea will make money? You can swing the odds in your favour by doing some research and evaluation of your idea. Depending on the idea, you may need to prove:
· Technical feasibility – can you actually make a product that has the features you want?
· Market feasibility – do people want to buy it?
· Business feasibility – can you create a business model around it that makes money?
You should end up with a report evaluating your idea and the business opportunity.
You can also develop something around the idea that has value such as a business plan, or contracts, MOIs (memorandum of intent to purchase) or actual sales.
If you are going “Huh??” – don’t worry. Stick around at Ready Set Startup and we will step you through this in simple, easy to understand chunks. The value of it is that by going through this process you will have developed something of real value that is saleable. And its easier than you think. At the very least, you will learn which ideas are profitable, how to make them as profitable as possible, and what investors are looking for when they invest in an idea.
If you still decide to sell your idea to try and sell your idea, be prepared for a very small percentage of the profits (1 – 5%). But who knows? You might decide that since you’ve come so far, you might as well keep going and become an entrepreneur!
If you have enjoyed this post and want to know the next steps to turn your good ideas into a great business, you will be interested in my free Startup Blueprint: 5 Steps to launching your 6 figure business
Grab it here. It’s free!
Thank you for your help and insite!!! i have been gathering grant infor mation along with the key fincal info that is along with other important information…I hope to have all these completed and in a business plan by the end of the year.and ready to prsent to someone at the beging of the year.But thank you once again!!!
Awesome Justin. Good luck with that.
سلام . چگونه میتوانم از طریق اینترنت ایده های جدید خودم را مطرح کنم و با سرمایه گذاران مذاکره نمایم.
لطفا مرا راهنمایی کنید . متشکرم
Great piece. Thanks.
You’re welcome. Thanks for stopping by.
There’s a Danish company dedicated to do just this, so please update this article as it’s officially outdated.
http://www.opfind.nu
I’ll leave you with a quote:
“Those who say it can not be done, is usually interrupted by those doing it” -GameChangers500
You are correct Frederik. There are many companies around who offer to help inventors commercialise ideas. However, they rarely buy ideas outright (and if they do you are probably not getting full value for it.)
Some of these companies are also pretty dodgy so if you decide to go down this route be careful and get good advice.
That’s correct Susan!
And I’m personally well aware of this, however where I miss the most persuasion is in my lack of references, so I deliberately use this to gain more recognition through actually launching and supervising concepts of my creation to create a relevant and strong portfolio og references and for this this method is absolutely worth a try!
Other than this is launching through Kickstarter, developing ideas through Quirky or if more of a specialist, attend to commissions through InnoCentive.
hello susan,
i also have an e-commerce business idea, and i am 100% sure that it will make huge money if it implement in e-commerce industries. but i don’t have money so i want to sell it to a e-commerce company.
Hi ,
I have an online business idea what I think it will become great .
How can I share it with an investor who dose not steal my idea and
save my rights?
Thanks
Hamid
If you have to be sure, they must sign a legal document that specifies that they will not use it, however most are not interested in this but most importantly is to try.
Actually it’s very rare that a startup idea is taken by another.
The document Fredrik is referring to is called an NDA or Non Disclosure Agreement.
As he mentions most investors won’t sign one, simply because they hear so many ideas it is likely they have heard an idea like yours before.
While you should be cautious about who you share your idea with, you don’t need to be paranoid about it. Executing on a particular idea takes a particular combination of skills, experience, contacts and interests. Others are unlikely to have the right resources to implement.
And most of all a lack of passion.
So if thinking about a starting a new businesses with a new concept, these actions takes huge amounts of devotion and passion and most people, even though they recognize the potential and ingenuity of the idea they have a lack of will to execute it as even if they should have the unlikely unique skill-set, they have a lack of devotion and passion towards the idea.
So if you have something new and unique, don’t be afraid to share the concept as long as you’re prepared to follow it yourself.
Share it with people who can see the potential and ingenuity of the idea and give them a chance to help you, as YOU have the devotion and passion to actually carry it out.
i have a great business idea for automobile sector that will make a boost in safety,security and alertness of the car owners worldwide.