On this episode of Rhodes to Success, I interview Brian Church, who is a bestselling author, public speaker, radio show host, serial entrepreneur, and an expert in mergers and acquisitions. Brian is the CEO of Idea Shares, which is a company that helps entrepreneurs take their ideas from the drawing on the paper napkin to a profitable business venture. During the show, we discuss the future of entrepreneurship, ideation and testing your ideas, and beginning with the end in mind.
Main Questions Asked:
- What is it about your personality that makes you want to be in so many ventures and not just one business?
- Talk about IdeaShares.com and how you are helping your clients.
- Are you mostly working with people who have an idea for a product or professional services?
- How early in the process should you be thinking about your business as being something that can be sold one day?
- What are your thoughts on service-based businesses?
- What is an example of a company who is doing everything right?
Key Lessons Learned:
Future of Entrepreneurship
- We are going to lose 45 million jobs in the next 10-15 years due to technology.
- What we used to think of as a ‘job’ will be very different.
- If you aren’t thinking entrepreneurially today, you will have to, as it will be necessary to ‘side gig.’
Solving Problems
- You don’t have anything that can create commerce if you don’t solve a problem.
- The current model of business incubators is actually more along the lines of accelerators.
- There is a gap between the early stages of ideation to execution and no one who is helping compress the time, cost, and overall risk associated with ideation.
Ideation
- Ideation is the time between when you get the idea, the catalytic action to move on the idea, and getting to minimally viable product, or proof of concept.
- The process for ideas is the same regardless of whether it is a product or service, as there needs to be a prototype for both.
- For proof of concept to gain traction in order to get funding outside of friends and family, you have to have a prototype.
Begin with the End in Mind
- When people buy businesses, they buy enterprise value, intellectual property, or both.
- Enterprise value is not a dependent business but rather an independent business someone can take on to the next level.
- Multiples are usually based off the enterprise value that, if the owner walked away, it’s a viable business model.
- A lot of businesses aren’t built to be sold. Some will be licensed, as they are more process-driven.
- Most people burn out because the business is dependent on them.
- The businesses that get the best valuations are the ones that are built in a way that they can run with the entire team being replaced.
Service-Based Businesses
- Service-based businesses need to have processes that are simple, repeatable, and measurable.
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The music in today's episode was written by The Danger Os and produced by Nick Palmer. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/thedangerosmakemusic
Links to Resources Mentioned
Idea Shares
Brian@ideashares.com
