Idea and Opportunity:

Ideas are something that are developed to fill a gap or to solve the problem, whereas business
opportunities are researched and polished into possible ventures that can often be used to make
money and return on capital.

Although business ideas have the potentiality to make money, they do not have commercial
value. Indeed, most of the business ideas are abstract, often in the minds of their creators or
investors (Wincent, 2015). Not every idea will ultimately be profitable, no matter how good they
seem. The world is full of great ideas, but it is short of entrepreneurs who can turn these ideas
into profitable opportunities. It is just a preliminary thing to come up with ideas, but turning
ideas into opportunities is completely different.

Significance of difference between idea and opportunity to investors and entrepreneurs:

One of the key differences between ideas and opportunities is that we can sell opportunities but
not ideas. Col. Sanders struggled to sell his idea of chicken recipes for years, but no one paid
attention to him until he repackaged the chicken recipe into fried chicken (KFC). It implies that
investors put their money in opportunities, not in ideas.

Entrepreneurs have the ability to twirl an idea into a business opportunity through market
research, feasibility studies, business plans and forming a core team. Then only such ideas can
become a business opportunity to catch the attention of investors and possibly get the financing
they need.

Reference:

Wincent, M. (2015). A systematic review of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition: An insight

on the influencing factors. Journal of Entrepreneurship and Management, 11(3), 205-

220.