Essays/linkedin/24-01-04 incomplete ideas

👍🏻 An art every entrepreneur must master is the effective communication of incomplete ideas.

• With customers, to validate solutions
• With the team, to align efforts
• With external partners, to support you along the way

But incomplete ideas are hard to transmit.

As you slowly form them, the reaction of people will vary. Many will dismiss the story you are telling, just because it is not complete. That's no reason to stop, it's only a stepping stone into forming it a bit better.

I remember very vividly one such moment: I had an idea for a device to do biomarker identification in large volumes. I tried explaining it to few people to no avail. Until one day I met a good friend, someone with a very similar scientific background to mine:

It took me around 30 seconds to convince him that my idea was worth pursuing further.

Sure, there are always kinks and unknown unknowns that will eventually catch up and may prove to be unsurmountable. But sketches of ideas are as important as complete ideas. Early communication can help shape them and identify opportunities that would have been hidden.

The problem with incomplete ideas is that the majority of people will try to dissuade you. "I don't get it", "are you sure no one did it before?". But you have to keep going until you manage to make sense to something complex.

Apparently, that's what Steve Jobs used to do. Pitching products at every opportunity he got, at parties, family reunions, and professional meetings. He would measure the reaction, and adapt the pitch for next time. Until people just got it.

What is your incomplete idea you are struggling to convey?