« You should make a business out of it! » [en]

Or should you?

Dave Sifry makes a very important point in his LinkedIn post:

I wished there were always-updated travel guides that I could have pre-printed and bound and it would be a great memento to remember the trip as well.

So, naturally, I thought there must be a huge opportunity in creating personalized, on-demand travel guides.

The mistake wasn’t being wrong about the market. It was forgetting to ask whether the product was really something I would pay for and just a ‘nice to have’.

The world is full of needs and problems. Many of these have solutions. And people are hungry for these solutions. They find them life-saving, precious, incredible.

But would they have paid for them?

A great idea that fills a real need doesn’t always have a viable business model.

I see that everyday with the thriving support community I have built for people with diabetic cats. Many of our members cannot find enough kind words to express their gratitude for what they got out of the community. There are over 7k members in it and a team of 20+ moderators. It’s literally run like a small business.

And people tell me: heavens, you should ask for a subscription and make a business out of this!

But I know it wouldn’t work. People wouldn’t pay for the service we provide. They probably wouldn’t pay for somebody to spend an hour with them to show them how to do things and get started. They most certainly wouldn’t pay for 24/7 support. At least not in numbers or amounts that would bring the whole operation anywhere close to being able to pay a salary, let alone more than one.

It doesn’t mean they don’t value what we bring. After the fact, they might very well say they would have paid for it. But not upfront, definitely not.

Some things will always have to be non-profit, or financed by third parties so that the service can be offered freely or nearly so. Others may have a market, but can’t find a price that is worth paying for the customer and at the same time high enough to sustain the business.

It’s not because there is demand for something that one can earn money with it.