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

[email protected]