To date I’ve talked to many entrepreneurs and their business/product plans. Something I now look for is what I call their “World Domination Plan.”
What is the “World Domination Plan”?
It’s having a product that can be taken to super large scale, with huge activity from users and huge traffic. This in turn attracts huge revenue due to the amount of traffic there, and the ability to monetize it.
There are two key pieces here. You must have the Plan, AND you must have a product that can grow that big. You can’t have one without the other in order for this to work.
A plan with a weak or insufficient or inappropriate product can’t grow big because the product won’t get there.
A product that has the potential to go big won’t go big if there is no plan driving it in that direction. Very few product accidentally grow big without the plan behind to drive it to be big. I would not count on that happening by itself…
Why do I look for this?
As an advisor and angel investor with finite time and resources, I cannot work on everybody’s projects, no matter who it is (like doing a favor for a friend) or how interesting it could be. So I needed to develop criteria for helping me choose which companies I work for and which I need to pass on. Those with World Domination Plans have the potential to be big in their category and have the biggest chance for overwhelming success. If the company is successful, then my investment will be successful and produce a greater return than with a company with more modest plans. Every project requires about the same amount of time and effort; why not try to maximize that on all fronts?
If there isn’t a plan for world domination, I do one of two things. Either I pass, or, if I have some ideas, then I try to get the company to develop a World Domination Plan and a world dominating product. With the second, I get varied reactions. Sometimes they can’t see my point, or maybe they have a vision for the business that is more modest than world dominating, or maybe they are even afraid of runaway success. But every now and then, I see an ‘Aha!’ in the eyes of the entrepreneur and they align with my thinking.
Why Believable and Non-Delusional?
There is another category of entrepreneur that is very prevalent these days. And that is the entrepreneur with a product and World Domination Plan that I just can’t see happening. Here, there are two dynamics in play.
First, I have to believe the plan, hence the believable aspect of this. It has to seem possible to me alone. Certainly others see that it is possible, but most importantly I must see this path to success and resonate with it. If I don’t believe it, that doesn’t mean that it won’t be big; it definitely means that I’m the wrong person to work on it and they need someone else….Or….I might be right and it won’t be big.
Second, it must be non-delusional. Some entrepreneurs won’t stop arguing for their product and plan even in the face of strong evidence that it will never work. I talk to them for a long time, pointing out the flaws in their plans and they just don’t listen. They are so wrapped up emotionally with their product that they are literally delusional about its prospects. I stay away from these guys. Not only are they delusional about their prospects for success, they won’t listen to anyone giving them hard feedback. Can’t work with people like that.