Now that you have an idea you need to test it out on other people to see if they think it's as brilliant as you do!

Presenting your idea

First of all you need to work out how to present your idea to other people. It's no good to say "Well, er, its this kind of, y'know, fantastic thing. It does this, and that, oh, oh and it also does this, and I nearly forgot to mention that it will bring an end to world poverty."

To start organising your ideas write one sheet of A4 describing what your business will do, who it will do it for, and why they will buy. Once you've done this, and are happy with it (which may take a few rewrites), then write just one paragraph.

Finally, write just one sentence. This is really, really difficult. Make sure it sums up why your customers will choose you over anyone else.

Protecting your ideas

As the final step before you go and tell your friends, colleagues and anyone else who will listen all about your idea, you need to decide whether you should legally protect any element of your idea. Patents, Copyright or Trademarks might be appropriate. If patenting your idea is an option you must not tell anyone else about it, or this could invalidate your application.

Telling other people about your ideas

Now you can go and try your idea on other people. Make a note of all the feedback you get, and set aside some time for later in the week to go through it. You may have some negative feedback that you dismiss at the time, but after a few days you may begin to see that they have a point - so be sure to write everything down!

As well as telling friends, family and colleagues about your idea to get feedback, you can try your ideas out on other flyingstartups members and advisers in the business ideas forum on this website.

Improving your idea

From all the feedback you get you should be able to make lots of improvements to your idea, so feel free to go through this cycle a number of times.

Start to think of a name for your business

Over the next few weeks build up a list of possible names for your business. The book has lots of suggestions on how to come up with ideas for company names.

Arrange meetings with bank managers

Ask as many people as you can for their recommendations for local bank managers. This is the best way of finding them, but otherwise you can call into local branches and ask for the right person to speak to. Set up meetings with a few different people for a couple of weeks time.

Emma

Read Emma's pitches. | Now that you have an idea you need to test it out on other people to see if they think it's as brilliant as you do!