Why Good Ideas Don’t Work

I’ve just revisited a site a client abandoned a year or 2 ago. The site has, without question, the most potential of almost any site we ever developed. Almost everything was perfect:

• great concept
• brilliant domain name
• huge potential audience
• huge viral marketing potential
• huge advertising potential
• huge e-commerce potential

We developed the site in close consultation with the client. And then the client’s daughter, who was going to manage the site, lost interest. The client was then approached by a ‘Business Manager’ to run the site.

He agreed.

The Business Manager developed a 101 cashflows, budgets, detailed analysis, plan, flow charts, etc, etc. He was the sort of guy that talked in very formal business language but had no understanding on the web as a business model.

Big plans and big profits were talked about. How to add value to the business was talked about. But never the visitor experience.

The site stalled and died. It still struggles along today., doing almost nothing.

Someone Has To be Driving The Bus

• At the early stage in the site’s development the site needed a leader. Not an analyst.
• It needed someone to make bold decisions and implement them. Not talk about what might be done, spend a month reviewing the smallest of details, prepare a report on it and then send it for further discussion.
• The site needed someone to drive the business (we call that person the Bus Driver….’cause they’re driving the bus(iness)). Someone to say “This is what we’re going to do. You do this and that, I’ll do XYZ. Let’s get on with it.”

I Got The Blame

I remember that I got the blame for the site not doing much. And why that happens, all you people who use consultants (!), is because the consultant has to blame someone and it ain’t going to be themselves.

The consultant has to make someone look bad to justify their role (not that I would ever do that!).

It’s Not About The Idea

It’s not about the idea. Sure it helps to have a good idea, but it’s more about the implementation of the idea. The skills of the people implementing, their contacts, their strengths, their drive, their funding, their market nous.