3 Things Your Business Idea Must Have To Succeed — as Proven By Famous Harvard Business School Startups There are different ways to come up with business ideas, but the successful ones share these factors.

Every startup starts with an idea.

But how do many entrepreneurs actually come up with those ideas? The reality may surprise you.

We are angel investors who spent the last couple of years interviewing 18 Harvard Business School alumni on their experiences starting companies, for a book called Smart Startups.