I believe that building a successful entrepreneurial venture, to paraphrase Yogi Berra, is 50% luck, 50% execution, and the other 10% is the idea.

Ideas are a dime a dozen these days. Now more than ever, starting a technology business can be done with a negligeable amount of capital. That’s not to say that we’ve entirely forsaken the need for VC financing in the domain of digital media. It’s just that VC financing has become less necessary in developing the beta. Rather, the financing proves to be often crucial after the beta stage: on making your concept be heard above the noise level.

And that’s where execution comes in. Because odds are, the idea will be imperfect from conception. It will need to be nurtured, vetted, course-corrected, and enhanced over time based on the feedback of the market.

An execution-focused entrepreneur will cycle through these stages. She (he) will reinforce her team with resourceful people that can contribute to each stage of the cycle… people that are focused on getting things done, on refining the idea to a point that meets what the market wants, that creates value for its community.

To put it another way, it’s all smoke and mirrors until you start generating revenues. Just sell it. If you can’t sell it, modify it until it sells.