The Idea Maze

You are about to embark on a journey that is fraught with deadends and hidden dragons. The next corner you turn might be your last and may end your journey abruptly. But if you perservere find the path and are not consumed by the maze then riches await you.

What is the Idea Maze?

The Idea Maze is a mental exercise where Creatives endevour to build something that has value to humanity. By creating a mental state and defining a reality that does not yet exist but is plausable, they create the world.

Marc Andreessen talks about the concept of an Idea Maze. The idea maze is the thought experiment that you understake when you find a problem that you want to solve.

One answer is that a good founder doesn’t just have an idea, s/he has a bird’s eye view of the idea maze. Most of the time, end-users only see the solid path through the maze taken by one company. They don’t see the paths not taken by that company, and certainly don’t think much about all the dead companies that fell into various pits before reaching the customer. —Balaji S. Srinivasan, Stanford University

Enter the Idea Maze

The Idea Maze is in your mind. You enter it when you have an idea that you believe will be valuable to the world. Your challenge is to explore the maze and find the pathway through the maze slaying the dragons along the way.

The Entrance

The entrance to the maze is created by the person entering it. It is defined in your mind. You may not know that you are at the entrance of a maze. It may appear as a dark alley or a foggy shore line that your are drawn to by the sound of waves off shore that you can not see but desire to. You may only understand that you entered the maze after the fact, when you look back from inside.

Inside the Idea Maze

Inside the Idea Maze you start by fumbling in the dark for the path that will lead you to the otherside. As you fumble through the dark you illuminate the maze with your creative energy and your thoughts define the pathway as you walk on it.

A good idea means a bird’s eye view of the idea maze, understanding all the permutations of the idea and the branching of the decision tree, gaming things out to the end of each scenario. Anyone can point out the entrance to the maze, but few can think through all the branches. If you can verbally and then graphically diagram a complex decision tree with many alternatives, explaining why your particular plan to navigate the maze is superior to the ten past companies that fell into pits and twenty current competitors lost in the maze, you’ll have gone a long way towards proving that you actually have a good idea that others did not and do not have. This is where the historical perspective and market research is key; a strong new plan for navigating the idea maze usually requires an obsession with the market, a unique insight from deep thought that others did not see, a hidden door. —Balaji S. Srinivasan, Stanford University

The Path

You will follow paths that lead to dead ends you will have to figure out where you need to back trace and find another path. As you illuminate parts of the maze and find the obstacles your path will become more visible and you will begin to navigate through the darkness. What was once an abyss is now a pathway.

The Dragons

You will come across dragons and problems that seem like they are insurmountable and you will have to decide to fight the dragon or flight away from the dragon but one thing you cannot do is freeze because freezing is certain death.

The Energy

Your energy will be expended on the traversing through the maze. You need to conserve your energy and decide whether a battle is worth fighting. What is the gain and what is the cost of each battle. You will need to preserve enough energy to get to the otherside of the maze.

The Companions

You will meet companions along the way that may be on their own path. Sometimes they will help you and sometimes they will not. You need to decide whether those companions are worthy of you time and whether you are worthy of their time.

The Competitors

There may be people in the maze along with you that are attempting to find a similar path. You need to be careful with competitors as they are on the same journey and may be able to redirect you from your path. Or use your illuminations to take advantage of you.

Exit the Idea Maze

You will know when you see the exit from the Idea Maze. The exit will not be marked rather it will be apparent because the same thought process that has you enter and stay in the Idea Maze will tell you when you are about to exit.

The prize

The prize that you recieve for the energy you expended creating the new reality is a blue print of how to build the new reality. The prize of the maze is the new reality.

After the Maze Exit

Once you've traversed to the other side what do you do with the prize? You've defined a new reality in your mind and now you can create the reality in the real world or you can enter another maze and start all over again. Choose wisely.