The more B2B and B2C winners got decided, the clearer it became that consumer plays were often winner takes all, while B2B was long tail and could often support multiple winners. In B2B, it's not uncommon for many companies to be addressing the same need for different types of customers or business models.

Don't go after an opportunity that you're not passionate about, or one that you can't win. You won't have the drive to pull through, and ultimately you're likely to get beaten by founding teams that actually have passion for the opportunity.

"You have to really be ruthless with your idea; trying to find any reason to disprove it and not being too emotional with what you're building." Peter Koomen

The business that you're trying to establish also needs to be viable: This means that there need to be enough prospects to sustain a business, you have to be able to reach those prospects, and the opportunity must be defensible in the short term.

The stronger the pain—and the higher up in the organization that the problem is felt-the greater the chances that the organization will want to address it.