My son once found a twenty-dollar bill on the ground and called himself lucky. I told him it wasn’t luck, he was being aware.
That’s how it works with business ideas too. They’re not hiding under rocks; they’re floating in plain sight. You are never going to find an idea binging on Netflix.
If you want to start something great, you’ve got to be in the right place. Get out of your bubble, join an incubator, or here’s something you might not like: get a job. Just get one in an industry you actually love. Learn it inside out. When you start spotting the problems, the inefficiencies, the pain points, that’s where your ideas live. Solve one, and you might just solve it for hundreds of others too.
Hobbies are another goldmine. After I adopted three King Charles Spaniels, my partners and I got obsessed with creating products for them. That obsession became Paw.com.
Passion first, profit later.
And your idea doesn’t need to “change the world” to be worth something. I hate hotel rooms. Thirty years of travel will do that to you. So my wife and I created Escape.club, a network of high-end Airbnbs with the consistency of a great hotel – Westin Heavenly Beds, Pottery Barn cookware, and quality amenities. Not revolutionary, just better.
Pick an Idea That Can Scale
Most entrepreneurs fall in love with their ideas before asking the hard question: can this actually scale? Ironically, it’s often harder to run a small business than a big one.
My wife runs a school in Fort Lauderdale. It’s thriving but with 18 employees and dozens of parents, it’s also chaotic. When we hit capacity, expanding meant millions in construction costs. Not easily scalable. I rate that business a 1 out of 5 for scalability.
Now compare that with .CLUB, a top-level domain we launched that sold over a million names worldwide with recurring revenue, eventually selling to GoDaddy Registry. That’s a 5 out of 5.
Scaling gets a lot easier when your product isn’t chained to your zip code.
Build a Moat Before Someone Else Drowns You
.CLUB had an unbeatable moat, if you wanted a .club domain, even Google or Amazon had to come through us. Once people started using those names, we were irreplaceable.
Already running a business without a moat? Relax. Here is how you can build one:
1. Brand: Paw.com dominates its niche because the name is unforgettable.
2. Distribution: Own your channels, own your market.
3. Patents & Trademarks: PupRug’s IP protections got copycats yanked off Amazon and Costco.
Defense matters as much as offense.
From Idea to Launch
Once you’ve got your idea, it’s time to stress-test it. And no, your mom’s approval doesn’t count. Avoid “yeah-sayers” and “naysayers.” Find peers who’ll give you real feedback.
Incubators are perfect for this. They’re pressure cookers for ideas, forcing you to validate or pivot before wasting time and money.
In the Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. Official Start Guide, I included the Ultimate Startup Checklist, from naming and trademark checks to your simple four-sticky-note business plan.
A quick story: my family was buying a beach house on Florida’s west coast. On the drive home, we brainstormed over a name. We came up with Sunset Escape. The sunsets were stunning. By the time we got home, the logo and domain were ready to go.
We didn’t even know if our offer had been accepted yet. That’s how fast execution should be.
And yes, AI made it into our checklist. Everything from investor decks to FAQ creation. If you’re not using AI to speed up the grunt work, you’re already behind.
How to Repeat Success
You’ve heard of one-hit wonders. Entrepreneurs have them too. But the Beatles, U2, they kept producing hits. That’s what real serial entrepreneurs do.
The secret? Start your next business before you sell your current one. You’re already in the zone, stay there. I’ve done it over and over:
– From my first BBS in 1993 we launched an internet service provider – Internet Direct,
– At Internet Direct we launched Hostopia, and GeeksforLess
– While at Hostopia I studied new gTLD alternatives to .com, .net and we came up with .club – At .club, domain names started blowing up when Clubhouse came up and we launched Startup.club.
-While at Startup.club we interviewed over 200 people for the book Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.
I think you get the point. When you are in the thick of it ideas are everywhere. Just be sure to take care of your core business and don’t fumble the exit.
Momentum is everything.
Once you’ve found success, make yourself discoverable. Build your brand. Forbes Books made me use Colin C. Campbell because the world already had too many Colin Campbells. Create a strong online presence – LinkedIn, media coverage, even a Wikipedia page if you can manage it.
The “Repeat” section of the book is my favorite. It teaches how to replicate success: building the right team, raising smart money, and using proven systems to scale again and again.
The Encore
Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. has picked up 33 global awards – including Axiom’s Gold Medal and IPPY’s Gold Medal and hit #1 on Amazon fifteen times.
The new Official Start Workbook breaks the first section of the book into simple, actionable exercises and if you know me, we have included a ton of AI.
It’s loaded with 10 AI GPTs to help you get that idea launched and 17 audio deep dives so that you can read a chapter in the book and listen to a deep dive. Really understand the material and get a third party perspective.
And we discounted the Official Start Workbook here to $9.99 so our members can benefit from it. Yeah, it’s a masterclass on finding that next million dollar idea for 10 bucks.
Ideas are everywhere. They’re not waiting for luck. They’re waiting for you to pay attention.
This article was the featured story in the October edition of the Startup Club Newsletter.
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