Opportunity is linked to a given environment or a market. To a certain extent, an opportunity amounts to an environmentally acceptable or accepted idea. To translate the initial idea into a business startup or takeover opportunity can be a bumpy ride, a process that happens progressively as the project is elaborated and developed. We may even make the following hypothesis: the more defined the project is at the beginning of the process, the less uncertainty there is, and conversely, a project originating from a vision involves great uncertainty, which the entrepreneurial process will try to reduce. Emerging ideas, opportunities and projects, which are evaluated and transformed during the process, are key concepts in our approach, as these elements constitute the raw materials that will produce new value at the end of the process. I develop these notions in the following sections.
Role and origin of ideas in the entrepreneurial process
In this context, the first myth I would like to dispel is that of the ‘brilliant idea’ or the ‘best idea ever’. Observations I have made in the past twenty years on numerous cases of business creation have shown that:
A good idea is nothing more than a tool in the hands of an individual or a team. The main ingredient is not the idea, but the work that can be done with this idea. Good ideas do not always make good opportunities, this depends on the individual, available time and resources, and probably chance.
I present two examples to illustrate this thesis. The first example is concerned with a fundamentally brilliant idea, which came at a suitable time when it was developed. It was about designing, producing and distributing an automatic postcard vending machine, intended for postcard retailers in France and meant to greatly reduce postcard theft. However, the product never came out and the company set up to produce it filed for bankruptcy a year after its creation. This is typically what a dead-end type of project is: a lot of risk, and little value created for customers and users. The problems and mistakes that were made in terms of product design and technical development as well as in terms of marketing and positioning swallowed up the initial capital.