How to pick the best Idea?

If you are contemplating on starting your own software business, here are some points worth noting to evaluate your software idea. All the below details are from the spreadsheet mentioned in this article (What is your idea score?)


Do you know atleast one person who needs this solution including yourself?
(A solution has to be for a person or a company, having atleast one person is a good start)

Can you describe the solution in one sentence
(How will you tell your audience what your product/solution does?)

Will the solution save money for the user?
(this is defining the ROI, is it Money saver or Time Saver?)

Will it save time for the user?

Will it Entertain the user?

Will it Educate the user?

Between 1 and 10, how do you rate the necessity of this solution?
(10 - Can't live without it or cannot run business)

How many competitors exists who are either providing the exact same solution or part of the solution that you intend to provide

How strong is the presence of your competitor?
(think in terms of their product downloads, check user forums, google rank, customer profiles etc, Rate from 1-10 where 10 indicates a very popular product, website and company)

Is there any USP(Unique Selling Point) for your solution

(define barrier to entry)
How many Man Months will it take to develop your solution?

(define barrier to entry)
Are you inventing new stuff in order to provide this solution (algorithm, protocol etc)


Is the solution for Consumers

Is the solution for Business

Do you have all the resources to complete the solution?

Do you know how to complete the solution?

Will you use your own solution if you had the exact same pain/necessity as your target audience?

For how many days have you been thinking about this idea?
(passion factor)

http://www.InfoCaptor.com