Ice House Entrepreneurs: The Myth Of The Million-Dollar Idea

Too many people think of entrepreneurs as Web Wunderkinds who stumble upon some million-dollar idea in their college dorm room.

The more common experience for entrepreneurs is the discovery of a simple idea that is not necessarily unique, yet often overlooked.

Take Brian Scudamore, an unemployed high-school dropout, whose moment of inspiration struck while staring at a beat-up waste-removal truck in line at a McDonald's drive-through.

Within a week, Scudamore had his own truck, and was driving up and down streets in search of homes with rubbish out front. He would knock on doors and ask residents whether they wanted their junk carted off for a fee. Through face-to-face interactions with customers, Brian discovered what prevented some people from using trash hauling services: The appearance of waste removal trucks and the demeanor of the workers who man them.

As Scudamore built his business, which he called the Rubbish Boys, he insisted that each truck was washed daily, painted with the company's signature colors and that employees wore clean, professional uniforms. This new approach to an old business helped the Rubbish Boys stand out, and eventually evolve into a $100 million business.

What may be surprising is that stories like Scudamore's are the norm among successful new businesses, according to Amar Bhide, author of Origins and Evolution of New Businesses. In the book, Bhide notes that the majority of Inc. 500 companies are started by inexperienced entrepreneurs who do not possess any new technology.

Examining hundreds of successful ventures, Bhide finds that the typical business has humble, improvised origins. Even entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Sam Walton initially pursued small, uncertain opportunities, without much capital, market research or breakthrough technologies. In other words, the well-planned, venture-backed startups we so often hear about in the media are the exception rather the rule.

Bhide further finds that coping with ambiguity and surprises, face-to-face selling, and making do with second-tier employees is more important than foresight, deal-making or recruiting top-notch teams.

Now most people reading this column wouldn't likely recognize The Rubbish Boys as a household name in the waste management business. That's because, like all good founders, Scudamore learned over time from customer feedback and market adaptation and eventually re-branded the company by the more familiar name it goes by today: 1-800-Got-Junk?

Founders like Brian Scudamore remind us that rather than breakthrough ideas accelerated by loads of venture capital, it is often simple solutions to everyday problems, combined with years of persistence and business-building, that lead to entrepreneurial success stories.

Watch Brian Scudamore reveal the story behind his business, 1-800-Got-Junk?:

 

Follow Thom Ruhe on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ThomAtKauffman

Comments

[oilfield]

12:25 AM on 09/13/2011

but did he start with a cdl and properly insured trucks? did he pay the help workmans comp and carry liability insurance? most businesses start out not complying with the govt's many regulations....did they charge sales tax? americans are amongst the best in the world at making a market.....if you invented a free energy source tomorrow and had no money....you wouldnt get far in this market.

[AcademicFreedom]

08:50 PM on 09/12/2011

An idea worth about $500 million. During an oil or other embargo, buy the commodity from the offending country through shell companies in other countries who do not have an embargo against the offending country. Then, through other shell companies, sell the commodities. When "caught" and "charged"; leave the US with those few hundred million and move to Switzerland. Make sure donations are made to other countries to get their officials to recommend to the US to pardon you and have those countries give you various awards. Then wait for the last day in office for a "friendly" POTUS and get pardoned.

Why wait for an idea when you can do the Marc Rich - Pincus Green maneuver and get a pardon.

[Mike Beckett]

05:22 PM on 09/12/2011

People want their problems solved and will pay for the privilege, this is the heart of business. If you find my unmet need that you can satisfy well that's going to be worth something, repeat business and a scalable model are the keys to bigger success...

[AcademicFreedom]

04:49 PM on 09/12/2011

Most businesses, like Facebook, were based on ideas taken from others. The key to a successful business start up is to turn someone's idea into a business, then cut the idea person out. Or, the other idea that works is to invest $10,000 in the commodities market and get $100,000 in return. There truly can be a million dollar idea if that is done roughly 10 times.

[Sundialsvc4]

02:33 PM on 09/12/2011

Indeed, it could almost be said that the "million-dollar ideas" have never worked.

We can't forget any of the several (so far...) "dot-bomb bubbles." Take any ol' dumb idea, dump hundreds of millions of dollars into advertising, build it up just enough to be plausible, "Go $$ Public," and promptly dump the stock. That was a business model (sic...) that was tried and that Failed many hundreds of times, and yet it is still repeated by hucksters.

I learned all I needed to know about this from Boy Scouts. We were to have a fire-building competition. Some of the boys went to elaborate lengths, drilling out sticks and packing them with lighter-pine or even gasoline. The judges looked on with bemusement, and pretended not to notice the tell-tale smells, while those fires blossomed into existence and then ... burned out cold. Meanwhile, over there, another group of boys were taking turns gently blowing on a carefully laid, small fire, gently adding fuel to it just when needed as the fire grew larger and larger and easily won the competition. We tossed what was left of the "rigged sticks" into the cheery campfire, where they burned away in a brief cloud of oily smoke.

A successful business has to get to self-sustaining, then break-even, then profitable, then Indispensable. It actually does not take a great deal of cash to do that. Just a lot of wisdom.