Hey, I've been writing.

It's been too long since I've posted here, but I've been writing on the Shovels blog, writing to my investors, and writing gobs and gobs of emails. I spend my evenings clearing my inbox or writing code.

Tonight, however, is different. I feel like making my first rbucks post in a while. It's because I have something to share.

I'll throw this up on LinkedIn eventually, but my good news humblebrag here is that Shovels broke $80,000/mo in revenue last week. That's $80K MRR in startup-speak. That's shorthand for a million dollars per year in revenue! (I know, the real number is $83,333, but we'll round that down.)

It's a big deal. It's the thing every startup dreams of when they first launch: let's make a million dollars. Let's clear that bar. At $80,000 per month you have a real business and you can support some real employees. There's NO DOUBT that the business has legs. The only question now is how far you can take it.

It took us 20 months to get here, and I have to admit that for the first time in my entrepreneurial career, I never doubted that this would happen. I knew Shovels felt different. I felt different. Together, we felt different. It was the right idea at the right time for me. This trilogy is important. However, if I had to pick one from the three that matters most, it'd be the idea.

And that's what I want to share here: the importance of idea.

When I interviewed to teach at DVC, I had to put a lesson plan together. I decided to do it on ideation. I still have my notes. I decided that tonight I need to turn this double-sided piece of paper into a blog post.

What's an idea?

An idea is a thought or suggestion as to a suggested course of action or a concept / belief. That's what the dictionary says.

Entrepreneurs call an idea a way to solve an unmet need.

Unmet need! This concept is important.

Let's use an example: the light bulb.

What's a light bulb? Is it an idea? Or a solution? What's the purpose of a light bulb and whom does it benefit? A light bulb might solve several problems; which is the most important? Most of us have never thought of a light bulb like this.

The scientist says, "My idea is to create light from electricity."

The entrepreneur says, "My idea is to make people more productive indoors and at night."

A "business idea" takes an "idea" a few steps further. Let's explain this using our ideation selection framework.

How do you choose an idea?

You should evaluate an idea by considering each of these attributes:

For each of the criteria, you want more of the evaluation. A good idea should be positive in every evaluation.

An efficient way to evaluate is to turn the table above into a sentence. For our light bulb, it would go like this:

For anyone dissatisfied with candles and kerosene lamps due to dimness, flicker, and inconvenience, I'm creating a light bulb that is bright, constant, portable, and electric, and is also difficult to manufacture.

This one-liner also makes a great pitch! When you have a strong idea, your pitch is also strong. They always go together.

Shovels made it to $80K MRR because it was a good idea. That's the bulk of it. It helped that I was motivated, that I had the perfect co-founder, and I was able to get a great team together. Those aren't small things, but none of it would have been impactful if the idea was bad.

So while I celebrate this moment, and I've been glowing about it all week (enjoying it while it lasts), I'm simultaneously humbled by the simple fact that I'm at the mercy of the idea.

Companies work because ideas work.

Entrepreneurs are merely vectors for good ideas.