If you build it, will they come?

The “Silicon Valley way” of doing business is to come up with an idea first, then form a company/startup. Is it possible to do it the other way around…form a company first, then generate ideas/prototypes among the talent you’ve acquired or assembled together? Are they both means to the same end?


  • Many companies take this route it’s called the incubator. However you are MUCH less likely to get to a viable idea this way.

  • There are no hard-and-fast rules here. You can first get customers, then work on a product, then get investors. Or you can first build a prototype, then get investors, then get customers. You can do anything in any order, and it depends on your business model what makes most sense.

    Assembling a team and throwing to the wall to see what sticks is very difficult. You need a lot of experience to tell the difference between a bad idea, and an idea that has potential but needs adjustments. It’s better to commit 100% to your best idea, than to have a bunch of people work on random BS that nobody believes in.

    • “You can do anything in any order”

      I struggle to see how any customers would pay you if you have no product. In fact, they wouldn’t be customers then, they’d be called investors.

      So no, you can’t do “anything in any order”. Sounds like kumbajah gibberish to me.

      Usually the idea/product comes first, and then the company.

      You don’t have a company to “just have a company”, you have one to incorporate your products, your customers, your employees into 1 entity.

      You make money by offering a product, not by having a company.

  • Businesses have been formed via a thousand different routes. However, the most successful have started with a problem to be solved, not a bunch of really smart, talented, sexy people in a room.

  • This is done all the time, but usually in nontech companies. Do your research. Lori of shark tank has a book about it. She invents, licenses, makes cash, wash and repeat.

  • Bogus. You can’t hire good people if you’re not hiring them to solve a problem. You can’t have customers if you don’t have a product, and you don’t have a product if there isn’t a problem. If there isn’t a problem you can’t build a team around solving it. A company without a product is a very boring and expensive party. No one is going to bankroll a boring, expensive party.

  • {"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

    You may also like

    >