Fred Wilson went on a little tweetstorm yesterday on the subject of startup ideas and if he thought they were good. It was something that I could really relate to from my days at ATDC. Entrepreneurs always wanted to know what I thought of their idea. I agree with Fred’s premise that “it doesn’t matter if I think it is good” for a slightly different reason.

His point of view is that the entrepreneur needs to think it is a good idea. While I generally agree with this I believe there is one thing more important. The people that would buy your product/service need to think it is a good idea that solves a problem they have. Whenever an entrepreneur asks me if their concept is a good one I would ask this question. It does not matter what I think, what do your potential customers think? More often than not they would not know the answer.

Know the answer.