Business author Michael Masterson authored a great set of rules concerning when, and how, to "kill" a business idea that might be struggling or having a hard time getting off the ground. This is a good list for any entrepreneur to keep handy as they launch (or think about launching) their business venture.
1. The most important thing is to establish a serious benchmark in the very beginning, before launching the project. Using the data you have from past new-product launches, determine what sort of targets you want to set. If all previous successful launches began with a sales-response rate of five percent, for example, you should make your benchmark five percent or more. Why? Because things never seem to turn out as well as we hope they will - especially when those things are ideas we want to believe in. Set a conservative benchmark and then get all team members to agree that if you don't reach it, you won't go forward.
2. If you can set two or three criteria for judging the project - two or three benchmarks - that would be even better. But be sure you have a way to average all the benchmarks or some other way to make the go-forward decision automatic.
3. Throughout the early stages of a project, do everything you can to ensure the best possible outcome - but, all the while, remind your teammates (and yourself) that the market is sometimes enigmatic. Work for success but recognize the possibility of failure.
4. If the project does fail, thank everyone who worked on it. Thank them as a group and individually.
5. Have a post-mortem meeting to figure out what went wrong and what might be done differently "next time."
6. Make it very clear: Stopping this project is not the end of the world. In fact, by cutting it short, you have more time, energy, and resources to test another project, one that might succeed. Let everyone who worked on the project know that although you are sad that it didn't work out, you are optimistic. You will find something that will succeed.
7. If you pushed to have the project launched against everyone's warnings not to, admit responsibility but don't apologize and don't act guilty. Idea leaders (people who come up with new ideas or promote them) are important not because they are always right but because they are so often willing to do what others would rather not even try.
8. Act upbeat, especially if you don't feel upbeat. Remind yourself that most of the greatest business leaders, like the greatest athletes and entertainers, failed more often than not. Keeping an upbeat way about you will do more than anything else to improve morale.
9. Consider holding an Irish Wake. Invite team members to a pub to dance and 
sing and to tell stories about the dearly departed.
Comment Preview