Prioritize the Right Idea Over Your Passion Project

So, you’re ready to channel your inner maverick and go for your gold. The best place to start is with Rule One – so let’s dive right in.

The mistake we see so many women making is falling in love with their product or service idea before figuring out if there is enough market opportunity to make it a business. Whether you are in the dreaming stages, pitching an idea to friends over brunch, or in a hot and heavy funding round, a compelling elevator pitch has to begin and end with a “can’t miss” market opportunity supported by explosive growth stats. No matter how much you and your besties may adore your idea, a snoozer of a market – think flatlining growth or heighted vulnerability to economic storm clouds – exponentially reduces the odds of building a solid business.

How do you know if you have a winner?

Investment bankers call the critical growth stats that define a good market opportunity a TAM, and they are not referring to the cute Irish hat. The TAM is the Total Addressable Market for your product or service. The TAM has to be large and growing for angels and venture capital firms to consider investing. The (mostly) over-testoteroned, vest-wearing bros in the business spend a lot of time analyzing TAMs and sharpening the fundamental growth story before trying to raise money.

So should you. And we’re excited to show you how.

Rule One: The Female Maverick Must Dos

All the rules in The Female Maverick Manifesto come with their own set of must-do items that act kind of like a roadmap for moving your vision along. Here’s an overview of everything that must be accomplished to land on the right idea for your future business. If it feels like a lot, it is. But, we will spend the next few weeks covering each of these Must Dos in greater detail and giving you the insights and confidence you need to get it done.

Step 1: Get real on the true size of your TAM.

Get ready to do a lot of research and some math. Really understanding the potential TAM of your business idea starts with meta-analysis on the market and industry. You’re looking for a number that’s big enough to warrant all the hard work you’ll be doing over the next weeks and months to bring your vision to life.

Step 2: Validate that your business trends are top shelf.

Now, this is the most critical component. TAMs aren’t static and they change constantly, so you will need to make sure yours is positioned to grow. To really catch the wave right before it crests, you need to be ahead of it.

Step 3: Get ready to reboot your first business idea.

Once you feel confident in the growth of your TAM, start running it by some friendly fire. As tempting as it is to go right to potential investors, don’t. Start with industry peers, business smarties and people who just have solid common sense to get a better idea of just how good your idea already is – or could be with a few nips and tucks.

Step 4: Always check your work (with investors).

It’s finally time to talk to some investors and do a final gut check. Their reaction will tell you pretty quickly if you’re on to something or not. As the final test, use the 1% rule to be sure capturing 1% of the market will be sufficient to make you million(s).

What’s Next?

Brace yourself for heartbreak. Your first business idea may not target a large enough market to support your multimillion-dollar paycheck dream. But that’s okay. You’ll get there with persistence.  Next week, you are going deep to uncover the size, buying patterns and overall spending of your client base including how much of it your competitors may already have locked up. So, sharpen your AI skills and get ready to start borrowing your consulting friends’ research logins for a deep meta-dive on your market.