Just under a month ago I posted on here and on WIWT that I was looking for feedback on some ideas I had. You may have read it. (If ya did and offered help - thanks!). The post got just under 4000 views and I received well over 100 emails and phone calls, let alone tweets and FB messages, from bloody awesome people who were all happy to lend an ear.
I have to say, it was pretty damn humbling and fantastically flattering.
I don't know what I was expecting to achieve by posting what I did but I certainly never expected to be quite so inundated with messages of 'good luck' and 'how can I help?' - especially from so many people who I admire the work of and who I know are extremely busy with their own projects. I was inundated with responses and I'm eternally grateful for everyone's encouragement and kindness.
Thank you <3
Whenever you post something publicly, you open yourself up for critique. I've been pratting about online for long enough to realise this and I don't take anything too personally. But as much as I was surprised by the overwhelming positive response I received, I was also pretty surprised by the number of people who thought that my asking for feedback from multiple people was a doomed idea from the get go.
I had a number of emails 'warning me' that my plan to spend a week bouncing ideas off of a range of people would leave me a confuddled mess (well ya know, more of a confuddled mess than usual). And then I had others suggesting I spent 15 minutes with one 'guru' and that would be all the feedback I'd need. Seriously internet, have we not moved past this 'guru' nonsense yet? And then others suggested I didn't tell my ideas to anyone or at least not without an NDA. Maybe I'm too trusting, but I'd feel like a bit of a douchebag if I made someone sign an NDA before I chatted concepts with them over a Starbucks. If I'd invented something groundbreaking then fine, but I have the faith that it's my execution that will make these ideas work (or fail) and therefore I wasn't about to start getting precious with saying my ideas out loud. Anyway, an NDA is pretty meaningless if you don't have the dollar to actually fight it in court.
So.
I was pretty convinced that speaking to lots of people over the course of a week was in fact a productive thing to do. If there's anything I've learnt from working in startups it's the dangers of assumption, the rolling out of features nobody in the community ever asked for, the 'if we build it they will come' mentality. (Note to self: add Field of Dreams to LOVEFiLM queue). One of my fave t-shirts from those crazy cats at
VCWear is this little beauty...
And of course it's bloody true. One person likes your idea? La de da! You may as well start picking out that super yacht right now. Make mine a large one.
Snarkiness aside, you really do need a range of people's opinions and feedback before you know if your idea has legs. I value my Mother's opinion, but she also thinks Greece's Eurovision entry was the best song she's heard this millennia. I needed advice from people whom I respected (no offence Momma D) and from people who come from a diverse range of professional backgrounds.
So I started replying to the emails I received and before I knew it I had booked myself breakfast meetings thru to dinner meetings for five solid days. I even ended up having one meeting over cheesecake in Manhattan. I met with amazing people. Talented people. Inspiring people. The kinda peoples I wanna be when I grow up. (Again, thank you a zillion times over to those who met with me.) It was a fun week, bloody tiring, but fun.
But was it productive?
YES!
I am so unspeakably pleased that I conducted the week the way I did, if only just for the great practice it gave me of explaining what my ideas are to new people. Being able to convey your ideas effectively is crucial, so after 30 or so meetings I think it's safe to say that I have that pretty nailed now. I was basically pitching rough concepts at the beginning of the week, but as the week went on these were shaping into something much more tangible as I was able to make sense of the advice I was receiving along the way. Yes, I was sick of my own voice by the end of each day (yep that's possible, even for me) but everyone's feedback was so valuable and from such different starting points that it was impossible to get tired of the whole process.
So where am I now?
Four ideas have become three and there is a clear hierarchy in the way the three ideas will be tackled. They're pretty different (a book, a website and a TV show concept) but they have a running theme which appeals to me greatly.
Do I think this post has rambled on for far too long?
Yes. Yes I do. So I guess you'll have to hear more on the big ideas later :)
If you read to here then you're pretty cool, have a cup of tea and a biscuit and bask in your awesomeness.
And again, thanks for your support :D
xxx
