I love it when I hear entrepreneurs are working on a world domination plan.
I see a lot of entrepreneurs arrive with pitches that are limited in scope. They talk about how the world needs this function, how great it is, and how current products don’t have these features. Usually, they really are great ideas. When we get to revenue, sometimes there is a plan and sometimes there isn’t. But many of these revenue plans only seem to get to a few million a year at most. This may be a great small business, but for an investor, we need to ply our limited resources into those opportunities that will grow into huge businesses, and not just a million a year.
The need for a world domination plan is important to me. I want to invest in businesses that will grow into huge businesses, which will maximize my return on investment. I don’t want to invest in businesses that will grow into small businesses, even if they are great small businesses. I only have time and resources to work on so many projects and need to maximize my efforts.
The plan needs to be believable to both me and the entrepreneur. It’s not enough that I just believe it’s possible; the entrepreneur must also believe the plan since he is executing it. If only I believe in the possibility, that’s not good enough. To me, it’s a form of personal deception; I see the idea, I see its potential, and it doesn’t matter who works on it – it must build into a big business as I believe, right? It’s not that simple even if I wish it was. I’m not the one executing the idea and doing all the ground work. The entrepreneur must believe in the idea and be able to do all that. If he does not believe in the idea and/or cannot execute it, it’s going to fail.
Some people have enough resources to invest in experimental projects, meaning that there is no clear path to success at the beginning. I unfortunately don’t have enough resources to deploy like that. Thus, I need to at least have some comfort that both the entrepreneur and I believe there is a world domination plan (and yes I know there is a great probability that this will change).
What is your world domination plan?