10% Product 90% Marketing If you have a great idea but no one has ever heard of it before then how exactly do you expect to sell any products? Growing a succesful business does take time, the time can vary depending on the business you're running though. I mean, look at ebay, very succesful in a short period of time and now there are hundreds of similar sites all competing agaisnt them (but they won't be near as succesful anytime soon). Time is a factor but no business can suddenly open one day and expect everyone to flock and buy their product/service without getting their name out there.