Yes, you probably are, because the typical approach you would probably have to a new idea is to distrust it, perhaps using of the following views:
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The market is so much overloaded, everything has already been done, everything is already there, why would you spend time and resources on your idea?
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There is already something similar on the market, it will be really easy for existing and similar projects to quickly adapt to your idea and beat it.
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It is not a good idea, you would not use such an application, you would not buy such a feature, you would not suggest it to friends.
Well, they could all look reasonable points and actually they really represent most of the points I overhear on criticizing new ideas or wills of creating new start-ups. But let’s analyze them a bit deeper:
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The market is not overloaded and the proof is just in front of you: weekly if not daily, you could find an article about a new winning start-up, a new top 5 application or new projects claiming to radically change the way something was done so far. Yet, if we really thought the market was overloaded, we would not have nowadays the amount and diversity of applications, projects, competitiveness which (hopefully) will keep on improving our daily life.
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Yes, there is probably always something similar on the market, but new idea does not necessarily mean new application. Just think about Instagram or Whatsapp: where they really new ideas? No, they were not, we already had lots of photo sharing applications for any type of device (so Instagram was not a new idea) and applications like Whatsapp are probably older than the browser you are using for reading this post (hence Whatsapp was not a new idea). But they rocked, they won. Why? They didn’t have a new idea, but they thought that existing ideas could be improved, with new features, key new features which have leaded to success, like instantaneously adding cool effect to photos and ready to share or use the phone number as an automatic credential eliminating the need of creating yet once again a new account, avoiding the annoying user name and password pattern.
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If a certain idea is not good for you, does it really mean it is not a good idea at all? Did you think about different types of users and customers? You just represent a tiny part of them. A certain idea can be amazing for teenagers and useless for you, or vice versa, it can appear attractive for singles and not valuable for couples, and so on. Yet, if you never bought an application or a premium account of a certain service, why would you state that no one else would do so?
That’s why you are against start-ups and that’s why you should rethink your attitude facing them. If one of the founders of Instagram or Whatsapp had proposed you his project, you could have answered using one of the points above, discouraging him, because the market was already overloaded, because it was not a new idea and because you would have not used it. Well, you would have been wrong, extremely wrong.
Of course, not all ideas are good ideas and not all new features for existing ideas are good features. What really matters is the passion and belief behind a new project, which would drive commitment and hopefully successful results. And a good portion of luck, as usual. But next time, before giving up on a new proposal, before resuming everything in one of the points listed above, just think about the three answers and try to find a different reason to be against it, it will be a reason worth to be considered. That is, once again, refactor your ideas also about start-ups.