From the course: Getting to Yes: Advice for Female Founders on How to Get Funded

Ask yourself: What is the market opportunity?

From the course: Getting to Yes: Advice for Female Founders on How to Get Funded

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Ask yourself: What is the market opportunity?

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- So if you're a woman founder and you're starting a business, one of the things that I really encourage people to do is to think about why they're doing this. Sometimes you can achieve your goals through different ways and if this is the path that you think is the right one, that's fantastic, but if you're doing it for other reasons, then maybe that's something you need to spend a little time thinking about. One of the things that I always like to say is, "Before you go through all the trouble "of impressing someone, "make sure there is someone worth impressing." And a lot of times we think, "Well if I raise a lot of capital, "this will impress someone," or, "If I go down this path and I build this business, "it will impress someone," and that's not really what you should be in it for. You have to be solving a problem that needs to be solved. I always say also too, "Never start a business "unless someone asks you to," because if there isn't an existing problem or what we in my business call market opportunity, then you're not going to be able to raise capital, and your business won't be successful. So if you have a great idea and you're ready to get started, my advice is pretty simple: Get started! There's no time too soon to get started. If you're not embarrassed by the first thing you put out, then you're too late. By taking that first step, you'll start to figure out exactly what your customers are interested in, you'll start to get an idea of what customers are willing to pay, you'll also know if you might have to pivot your business, if you might have to shift it slightly to meet the true customer opportunity that you're going after. (upbeat music)

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