Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship pdfdrive com

3. THE BLOCKBUSTER MYTH
The third misstep of the value skew is 
the blockbuster myth
. This is where you
errantly isolate the value metric based solely on your ability to craft a unique
product never before seen. “I gotta find something no one else is doing!” In other
words, you patiently wait for lightning to strike, that one legendary idea that no
one among seven billion people on planet Earth have ever thought of doing.
Behind the myth of the blockbuster idea is the rationale that if you’re the first
to market, competition won’t exist. And if competition doesn’t exist, you can
dictate the value skew, margins, and skate your way to millions. Unfortunately,
being first to market is not pocket aces, or even a decent middle pair. Just ask the
good folks who started Friendster, Netscape, Palm, TiVo, and Betamax.
As a result of the blockbuster myth, you never do anything because lightning
never strikes. I just don’t have any good ideas, so therefore, I’ll do nothing.
The next two value myths closely correspond to the blockbuster myth and,
ironically, usually postdate it. The first is the crowded-room myth.
4. THE CROWDED-ROOM MYTH
The crowded-room myth
reasons that your idea is no good because someone
is already doing it. The market is too crowded and there isn’t room for you. The
crowded room myth usually starts with a blockbuster idea that is thought to be
new and novel but, turns out, isn’t. A preliminary search on the idea uncovers
several companies already executing the idea, and hence, the entrepreneur
reasons, “Oh well, someone is doing it.”
Most ideas usually fall into this category, which is why skewing value is so
important—
it’s how you get into the room
. Think about it. Alta Vista existed
before Google. Budweiser before Sam Adams. Friendster before Myspace before
Facebook. The crowded-room appears crowded because we don’t typically think
from a value skewing perspective.
If there are one hundred total players in the market and each possesses fifty
units of market share, you only need to take one unit of share from each to get to
the top. You would end up with fifty units, and the others would have forty-nine.
If there is value to skew, there is always room.
5. THE EMPTY-ROOM MYTH

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The other value misappropriation sits opposite the crowded room: 
the
empty-room myth
. The empty-room myth is the antithesis to “somebody is doing
it” and instead uncovers 
no one is doing it
.
Once the entrepreneur discovers the room is empty, the idea is devalued
based on the rationale, “Oh, there isn’t a market for it” or “There mustn’t be any
money in this industry.” The empty-room myth is how blockbuster ideas get
dismissed. In fact, put both the crowded-and empty-room myths together, and
you get the ultimate entrepreneurial circle jerk of do-nothingness. Think about
it. It doesn’t matter what the idea is; it will always be dismissed with one of the
myths. If someone IS doing it, darn, crowded room. If someone IS NOT doing it,
dang it, empty room. The myths cement justifiable inaction. In essence, no idea
is worthy.

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