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How Do You Validate You Can Implement Your Great Startup Idea?
My mind started racing. I was having a hard time trying to hide my excitement. Mike, the managing partner of a San Francisco based VC firm, had just asked me to help them start an analog semiconductor company. In other words, Mike’s fund was going to provide the financial backing for my new company.
Two weeks earlier, I’d been fired as a general manager at Micrel, and now I was being given the chance to do exactly what I wanted to do. How lucky could I be?
“Slow down!” I said to myself. But I couldn’t slow my mind down. Finally, I just said to myself, “Screw it. Just enjoy the moment.”
On the hourlong drive home, I just turned the radio up. I was living the scene in Jerry Maguire where Jerry is singing, “Free falling.” That was me. I was just so happy.
It probably took another 24 hours, but I started running through the checklist of things I needed to do to turn my idea into a successful company.
The question always is can you actually implement your great idea?
The good news was the playbook was tried and true. Usually, I would say you should start by validating the market.
