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Stage 1: New Business Idea Guide

New Business Idea 

This is the stage In the Toolshed framework where you learn how to tell your new business idea as a story, then test your idea on others to see if your idea is viable.

 

Testing your idea will help you to better understand it’s true essence and judge whether it is as golden as you originally thought.

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Objectives

​The goals for this stage are:

  • Clarify your idea.

  • Test your idea on others.

  • Either continue with your idea as is, refine it, or find another.

  • Convert your idea into a compelling vision that will be your guiding light, and you can use to inspire others as you build your business and, later, pitch for funding.

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Describe your idea as a story

The most difficult part of writing a story is starting. Not many of us consider ourselves to be competent authors, but this framework stage is not about quality writing, it’s about describing your business idea in a way that inspires others. Inspiring others will be critical if you want the support of employees, partners, and funding providers later.

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Using the Business Idea Stage

The Business Idea stage is broken down into steps, with each step containing:

  • A description of the step and how it works.

  • Learning resources like guides, blog posts, templates, or tools that can help you with this step. 

  • Links to resources elsewhere on the web that can help guide you with this step

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We recommend that you follow each step in turn and use the resources that most suit how you like to learn.

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Conclusion

The Business Idea stage should give you greater clarity about your business vision, some allies who support your idea, and the confidence to decide your next step. This decision is important. If you decide to proceed, you’ll be committing to investing time and energy in designing your business in the Business Plan framework stage.

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We want to make your startup journey enjoyable, successful, and as easy as possible. If you find any aspect of the site confusing or lacking, please let us know on our Contact Form and we’ll improve it.

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Finally, if you’re feeling lost, head to the Community, and get some help from a fellow founder or an expert mentor.

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