Recently I was again fortunate to serve as an early-level judge for a collegiate “shark-tank” event.  The group of young entrepreneurs had five minutes to begin “Pitching” An IDEA to my small group of judges and hopefully be picked to advance to the next round.  The business-building concepts they shared were representative of both the private and public sectors…and were clearly high-value to each person delivering the “please-select-me” messages!

Was the experience fun and professionally encouraging…YES!  But in a progressive kind of way it took me back to another career entrepreneurship time that brought about the development of an:  IDEAS Guidebook.  And just to share a memory…here’s one of the first components in the Guidebook:

“One of the first steps in making your IDEA come to life is to take yourself through an intense “Shark Tank moment.  This means that like the contestants in the TV show, you need to ask yourself very direct questions about your IDEA:

• What do you want to build?
• What problem do you want to solve?
• Where would it be located?
• Who would produce it?
• Why would people use/buy it?
• Is it a hobby or a business?
• Do you want to make money or save the world?
• Have others done/built it before?
• Who would be your best partner…or your competition?

Some or all of these questions need to be addressed and thought through before moving forward with your IDEA.

By spending early time discovering the answers to the What Do YOU/WE Want? questions in this IDEAS Guidebook, you will find others much more willing to listen and consider.  (Remember those two words!  Listen and Consider!)”

I guess as I listened to each pitch…I was wishing that if I had them in an entrepreneurship class that I would re-stress the WHAT DO YOU/WE WANT? questions over and over to all of them.  Now, I am not saying they did a poor job on their pitches.  Rather I believe their ideas would have greater strength and business-building potential if they might have stayed simple on WHAT DO YOU/WE WANT? customer-based priorities.

Bottomline:  “Pitching” An IDEA! should be somehow common-place in all workplaces.  It doesn’t need to be a formalized shark tank event…but if you find yourself “Pitching” An IDEA!…concentrate on points that will cause everyone to LISTEN and CONSIDER.