I had lunch with a friend the other day, and he pitched me an idea he had for an iPhone/Android/whatever app. When he was done, he asked, “What do you think?” Without thinking, I answered with, “Hmm, sounds neat. Cool idea.” He told me that’s what everyone said. It was then that I realized he had asked the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What do you think?”, phrase it like this:
Friendly Optimism
If you’re asking friends (or even just generally polite people) about your idea, they won’t want to hurt your feelings. They can tell you’ve got a lot of enthusiasm and excitement tied up in your idea, and it would be a real jerk move to throw cold water on that. So, they answer, “Cool idea!” or perhaps “That’s neat. You know what else you could do?” Very few will give you real, jarring, critical feedback. Instead, they’ll try to be good friends and cheer you on. Unfortunately, you need a reality check, not a cheering section.
Ask to be bruised
If you make it clear that your goal is to get real, unbiased feedback, you pave the way for someone to be honest without seeming rude. In addition, if you explicitly ask them for negative feedback, they will be pressed to come up with specific criticisms, instead of vague encouragements.
Once the truth starts flowing, take some notes and ask for more. Resist the urge to get defensive and just let your reviewer express their opinions. Once they realize that you’re truly appreciative for the beating they’re giving, they’ll really start to build up steam. Thirty minutes of this can generate some truly exceptional insights. You may think you know what sucks about your idea, but others may be able to poke holes in it you never imagined.
React and Adapt
No idea is perfect, and your job as an entrepreneur is to overcome and adapt to the imperfections in your idea. If you can’t recognize and counter your own weaknesses, then your success will be severely limited. It’s nice to get a pat on the back every now and then, but it’s absolutely necessary to get raw, unfiltered criticism. Very few will give this freely, so it’s up to you to drag it out of them.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Sometimes the hardest advise to stomach is what you need to hear the most.
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I think sometimes we need to be more honest with each other as well. When someone asks, “What do you think?” we should also be willing to be constructive.
I know that most of the time I want to be nice and encouraging, so I say what a person deserves to hear, cause they are a friend – but also, I should be honest and say how I think it needs work. That’d be a better friend.
This honesty thing is hard.
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
adaptation is one of the crucial thing during execution. “Founders at work” is full of examples of how founders of most of the companies started with an idea which was never same as the idea they ended up executing finally.
November 26th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
The funny thing is, where I come from (Germany) it is the opposite. If you tell people I have an idea the will most likely tell you but did you think about that problem and this one etc.
Actually I think people should ask more specific questions like “What you think about this feature?” Don’t ask people to general questions which they can’t answer anyway. To find the asnwer is your job.
Regards
Marco
December 11th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
[...] I had lunch with a friend the other day, and he pitched me an idea he had for an iPhone/Android/whatever app. When he was done, he asked, “What do you think?” Without thinking, I answered with, “Hmm, sounds neat. Cool idea.” He told me that’s what everyone said. It was then that I realized he had asked the wrong question. Instead of asking, “What do you think?”, phrase it like this: “Tell me why this idea sucks and will never work.” Read on. [...]
March 11th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
[...] You’re asking the wrong question. [...]