Your idea is worthless until you do these 7 things

Your idea is worthless until you do these 7 thingsYour idea is worthless until you do these 7 thingsYou may have a great idea, but that doesnt make you a successful entrepreneur.With the idea, youre about 1% of the way there - because a successful business is only 1% idea. The other 99%?Assembling a great teamResearching and fully understanding your marketMarketing better than everyone else in your marketObtaining ample fundingPutting your company in a sustainable locationGetting timing rightAnd many other factors.In other words execution.Amazing execution can make an ok idea great. A great idea with poor execution will go nowhere. If you have a great idea that you want to turn into a business, consider these thingsDont worry about people stealing yourideaYou could probably tell your idea to a 1000000 people, and still be safe.The likelihood that another person would have the drive, passion, and execution to take your idea and turn it into a profitable business is extremely low.So w hat about Facebook, perhaps the greatest example of a stolen idea there is?Honestly, the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world are going to build highly successful businesses whether or not you share what youre thinking with them.In fact, Im certain that the net benefit you can gain from talking to people about your idea is greater than any risk you might run of finding another Zuckerberg.Using people as sounding boards to collect feedback lets you refine your idea until you achieve its best form.Dont react to what your competition isdoingRather, focus solely on making your product the best it can be. Everything else is just a distraction.Once youve launched, turn that focus onto howthe marketis reacting toyour product. When a market reacts negatively to a product, thats when you need to make changes - not when new competition enters the market.When we set out to introduce a new motorcycle hallo taxi service to Bangladesh, we werent the first tomarketIn fact, two weeks prior toPathaos app launch, a company called SAM (Share a Motorcycle) held a press conference announcing a very similar service to ours. It resulted in a lot of hype - people were expecting it to revolutionize the countrys transportation system - so we were pretty worried.But poor execution on their part resulted in a disastrous launchTheir app had tons of bugs, they didnt have enough drivers their first few weeks on the streets were a total mess. Of course, this opened the door for Pathao - and we executed. We ensured better service, faster delivery, readily available drivers, and created a smoothly functioning app.We blew them out of the water.And today, Pathao is the countrys most popular motorcycle taxi service, with over 100,000 drivers and a valuation north of $120 million?- ?even though we werent first tomarket.Ideas are no mora than a startingpointIn fact, most startups ultimately look nothing like their initial idea.Building a successful business requires constantly altering and improving a n idea based on what you learn. There are plenty of situations in which an entrepreneur learns their product isnt marketable - but something similar to it is. On your entrepreneurial journey, you may find that people dont want to buy your new caffeine-packed energy drink, but theywouldif it were healthy.So make it healthy - executeon that newfound knowledge.Im sure I wasnt the first person to come up with the idea of creating a website offering prank phone call audio templatesBut I was one of the few people to execute it well. In fact, since launchingPrankDialin 2009, Ive watched seven different companies start similar websites - but ultimately fail. PrankDial, on the other hand, has generated more than $10 million over its lifetime.Dont sit around coming up with great ideas - this will prove a fruitless endeavor. Instead, consider how you can execute an idea. After all, ideas are one in a million - but proper execution can yield millions.This article was originally posted on M edium.