Seth's Blog : A good business vs. a useful idea

A good business vs. a useful idea

Ideas open doors, lead to connections and make things better.

But not all good ideas are good businesses.

Crop rotation is a good idea. So is sous vide cooking and the sport of juggling. But these aren’t good businesses.

A business thrives when it can charge a premium–selling something for more than it costs. That means that there has to be a competitive advantage, an asset that produces value. Easy substitutions are a challenge for businesses, but useful ideas are often based on how easy they are to share.

Create something of value. And then find a reason why people will eagerly choose your version and happily pay extra for it.

[Update: After 20+ years, the original RSS feed for this blog doesn’t work any longer. The one to use is: https://seths.blog/feed/ I strongly recommend RSS, it’s the best way to read blogs. Own your communications, don’t let Google filter them.]