Who Needs What I Want to Build?
An idea can excite me before I understand whether it matters enough to someone else. How can I begin finding out?
DIMENSION OF ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
Who Needs What I Want to Build?
An idea can become quite elaborate in my mind before anyone else has encountered it.
I can imagine its name, its activities, the space it might occupy and the people who could become involved. Each possibility suggests another, until the idea begins to feel almost tangible.
But who needs what I want to build?
That question deserves attention before the picture becomes too comfortable.
Suppose I imagine a shared workspace where people can learn practical skills. I may see the value clearly. Yet the people I hope will use it may have different priorities.
They may need help completing a particular task. They may prefer short sessions to an ongoing membership. Travel, timing or cost may make an otherwise attractive offer difficult to use.
Until I speak with them, much of my understanding remains an assumption.
Even a favourable conversation requires interpretation. Someone may appreciate the idea without expecting to participate. Encouragement is welcome, but I need to understand what it tells me.
What do people currently do about the need? What difficulties do they encounter? What would make them try an alternative? Who would use the service, and who would pay for it?
I would like to ask these questions without turning every conversation into an attempt to secure agreement.
If I explain my idea at length, the other person may respond to my enthusiasm. If I first ask about their experience, I may hear something that changes the idea itself.
That requires a willingness to let the enquiry influence the outcome.
Perhaps the need is narrower than I imagined. Perhaps it belongs to a different group. Perhaps a useful service already exists, and the difficulty is access rather than availability.
There may also be a genuine need without a workable enterprise around it. The people who would benefit may be unable to pay enough to cover delivery. That leaves further questions about who could support the activity and whether that support could continue.
I would like to discover these difficulties while the idea is still inexpensive to change.
A small trial can help. Can I offer one clearly defined activity, observe what happens, and ask participants what was useful? Will anyone return, recommend it, or make a commitment beyond expressing interest?
Their response gives me something firmer to work with.
My enthusiasm has a role: it gives me energy to begin. Listening and testing can help me decide where that energy should go.
Before asking how large an enterprise might become, I would like to understand whose life or work it could improve—and whether they recognise that value too.
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