Business idea analysis: knowing when to pull the plugg on your ugly baby

In this paper, I reflect on the way entrepreneurs evaluate business ideas to either pursue them or let them go. I reflect on the efficacy of the current theoretical proposals in the field of Entrepreneurship when applied on their own and combined, in the context of new business ventures. The motivation behind writing this reflection comes from the several occasion when I have had to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of business ideas. I explore the efficacy of the opportunity analysis plan, the business plan and the simple effectuation approach as methods to evaluate an idea. The analysis comes from the application of these methods on four different business evaluations I did during my one year experience as a Mexican entrepreneur in the Swedish market. A correlation has been found between the efficacy of the evaluation approach used and the complexity and amount of resources the venture requires.