Michal Hudecek is founder of IdeasWatch and the managing director of Maintop Businesses, a company that seeks and develops innovative technology businesses. Its projects are always cooked up from the same ingredients – a value added innovative idea, straight-forward and attractive design and an attention-drawing message. All of it is also valid for the latest non-profit project, IdeasWatch, which goal is to eliminate prejudice towards sharing startup ideas and encourage young entrepreneurial minds to start a business.
What are you working on right now?
There are a bunch of projects in the pipeline, most of the them under development or in the private beta testing phase. Also I am still working hard on spreading the word about IdeasWatch, which is a platform for sharing startup ideas you don’t want to realize yourself but would be great if somebody else would. Go check it out. Feel free to inspire and get inspired. If you like it, don’t forget to support us on Facebook.
What does your typical day look like?
I am trying hard not to have a typical day. That’s why I founded a company for starting innovative ideas. My day is usually a mix of discussing and analyzing new concepts, finding new ways to let more people know about current projects and making already launched websites even more clear and simple. If I feel my days are getting to be typical, it’s time to start a new project.
3 trends that excite you?
1) Crowdsourcing – I believe that people are willing to help each other and build something together more than is generally perceived. I am always really anxious to see another example of that.
2) Cloud computing – Moving our data and programs from our hard drives to a cloud is in my opinion an unstoppable process. The advantage of cooperating with others and ability to access your data anywhere is just too big.
3) Gaming mechanisms – Games, especially online, are extremely good at motivating people to invest time (and money) into them. A lot of lessons could be learned here. Go play something to see how they do it, seriously!
How do you bring ideas to life?
If you believe in the idea, just start it. It might not be perfect from the beginning, actually it never will be. You cannot plan everything in advance. Just built it with fair amount of effort and see how people like it and keep adjusting it or even transforming it into something else.
What inspires you?
It’s a tough one. Plenty of things. They are unidentifiable dots that finally connect into something new. What I know for sure is the ideas don’t come when I sit behind table. They slowly evolve and what helps me to get the dots connected is when I occupy my brain with something simple and at least a little fun to do (like exploring the park, taking a shower, playing guitar..).
What is one mistake you’ve made, and what did you learn from it?
Don’t forget to ask yourself every time you think about starting a new project: Is the idea so great that even if it doesn’t make money I would still wanted it to be launched? If you still say yes, go for it. The passion will provide you enough creativity and perseverance for finding the right business model and making business out of it. I didn’t ask myself once and ended up working on idea that wasn’t changing anything meaningful and making money either.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Good question. Actually IdeasWatch is full of hundreds of business ideas people are willing to give away. My favorite one is a City parking finder, an app that would help you to find a free parking spot when you are in the middle of a city.
What do you read every day, and why?
Feedback from our users. Making things just enough simple takes enormous amount of time. Any feedback can speed it up.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read, and why?
My favorite is Rework from Jason Fried. It’s about entrepreneurship without all the useless “corporational facade”.
What is your favorite gadget, app or piece of software that helps you every day?
Alarm clock on my cell phone playing Now we are free from Gladiator soundtrack. Helps me gently with the most difficult part of the day – waking up.
Who would you love to see interviewed on IdeaMensch?
The guys behind Daily portion of LOL. Sometimes it really makes my day and obviously they do it just for the fun. I am always interested in meeting people who does something just because they love doing it.
How do you perceive the role of the idea?
I do believe that good idea you have faith in is the driving force to overcome fear of failure and keep you passionate and energized even when it gets tough. It’s the very base of any successful project. After that comes the hard work.
What are your thoughts on entrepreneurship?
In my opinion entrepreneurship is a lifestyle choice. There is nothing elitist about it. It’s just about finding job that fulfills you. I have friends who are really happy in their regular jobs in big companies. But I just couldn’t find one that would satisfy me. My passion is IT (I love talking about new technologies), marketing (I love analyzing success or failure stories of companies) and starting new things (I get really excited when there is something new on the horizon that needs to be moved from the foggy idea to successful project). No job I knew could offer me all this altogether with freedom to make necessary changes quickly and possibility to work only on projects I find meaningful. So I started a company. But it doesn’t always have to be “official” company for that matter. Just discover what you are passionate about and find a way to make money doing it. On my travels I met inspiring people who loved being on the road all the time, seeing new people and places and found a way how to earn money via blog or videos from their trips. The only magic is to find out what you love doing, seek a job for that and if there is none – create it.
Connect:
Michal Hudecek on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michalhudecek
Michal Hudecek on LinkedIn:
Maintop Businesses: www.maintop.biz
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.