This weekend, I experienced an epiphany. It came while discussing the exciting new micro payments concept I was recently introduced to with my wife. It may sounds ridiculous, but it was an earth shattering experience - especially, as the more I think about it, the more obvious and crucial it becomes.

“What was this epiphany then?” you may ask - well, simply put it overwhelmingly dawned on me, that for any new business idea, you first need to find the killer application for it.

..you can get very far without having a clear understanding of the killer application for your business idea.

This may sound simplistic - and possibly even sad when coming from a serial entrepreneur - but think about it. It is actually not that easy to do and it is definitely something lots of entrepreneurs tend to overlook at first (I have - a couple of times!). I think this is especially true for technology start-ups.

Lots of start-ups get caught up in developing the systems/software/[insert your own], writing business plans, presenting to investors, finding customers, getting funding, etc. And you can get very far without having a clear understanding of the killer application for your business idea.

So what is this elusive killer app? Well, it depends. For most technology start-ups, especially software and internet based, proliferation and user adoption is the name of the game. And for this, you need an obvious killer application for a user segment, that will make everyone in that segment want to use your product/solution/service right away.

One example of a very well known killer application is the iPod and iTunes Music Store. It was among the first to enable users to easily, inexpensively, and legally obtain their favorite music and listen to it anywhere. Another killer app is Google, finally enabling efficient search of the Internet’s vast seas of information. Yet another example is FaceBook, enabling you to socialize and keep track of your friends virtually.

What killer apps have in common are that once unleashed everybody in the segment ends up using them. Another very noteworthy thing is, that the killer app for your new business ideas does not necessarily have to be profitable or even generate revenue (in fact, it seems several very successful ones do not) - you can always add this later, e.g. via ads, freemium services (e.g. LinkedIn), or any of the other business models available.

..business concepts will be shared here to (..) identify and refine the killer app for these

I have added the category “The Killer App” to this blog and already have a number of business concepts that will be shared here to harness the wisdom of crowds and the powers of mass collaboration to identify and refine the killer app for these concepts. I hope you will also want to share your concepts and in return tap into these powers (and warmly invite you to send your ideas/concepts for posting here). You don’t have to share all the details - just enough that the brilliant people around here can understand and comment on it. And if you already have your killer app, share it here for input and sanity check.

It is not always easy to identify the elusive killer app - and even when you believe you have it, you may not. I believe that the wisdom of crowds and power of mass collaboration can be extremely valuable forces in helping you identify, refine, and validate the killer app for your specific business idea.. and you will need that killer app!

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