As I have written many times, not every great idea is good business opportunity. That is why I believe that the single most important skill I can teach aspiring entrepreneurs is how to evaluate an idea and assess its promise as a viable business (most recently in a column I wrote for the Tennessean).
There is an article at Forbes by Wil Schroter that reinforces this point:
A while ago, you had an idea for a new company that would change the world. You stayed up all night feverishly sketching your plans for global domination.
Yet there you are, months later, still sitting in your cubicle, that brilliant flash a distant memory.
Wake up: Not every idea — even a great one — turns into a money machine. In fact, it’s often just as useful to know when to dump a good idea as it is to pursue one — if only so you can get to work on that next “great” idea.
He goes on to give advice that is consistent with my mantra on this: market, margin and me. All three have to work for an idea to really have a chance to make it as a business.
(Thanks to Matthew Nicholson for passing this along).