What is the first thing you do when you see the perfect woman you've been waiting for all your life...
You find out if she is SINGLE, right?
So, why not do the same thing with your Startup Idea.
Okay so I'm not gonna pester you with tips and techniques or lecture you on growth and other bullshit. Instead I'm gonna propose a simple but proven EXPERIMENT. If you pass the test, go ahead, build your Startup and make it large! If you cannot pass it, either you idea needs adjustments or it totally sucks.
Now every startup has 3 options:
Sadly, I have seen a lot of startups ending up at Option 3; have even experienced a few myself. The problem is, no matter how much anybody writes about idea validation or market analysis it's all going to be a 'BIG BLAH' for you.
You ask WHY? Because you are in LOVE.
Just imagine some stranger telling you to reconsider your choice of being with your girlfriend (the one you absolutely love). The hell you are going to consider it! But what if you saw her cheating on you. Now you are definitley gonna do something, huh?
The point is NOT to discourage you from doing something you love. The point is that our time is precious and if we decide to invest it on something, let's make sure that something is gonna be worth it! ( be it your idea or your girlfriend :D )
Alright, so let's get started with our little experiment.
STEP 1: Get Feedback (30 mins)
Find just 3 people who might be your potential customers or fall under the same domain. Record the conversation or Write down what they actually say.
Resources - Use only 30 minutes for this activity.
Result - Refine you idea and your solution statement using the language of these prospects. You may repeat this step if you are still not confident about your idea.
Example: Your original idea might be to make a book or CDs on guitar lessons. After feedback you will realize that people do not have time or are probably not interested in buying a book. So you revise your idea into a subscription based email approach. Little 6-Minute guitar lessons daily in your inbox.
STEP 2: Bring your idea to life (30 mins to 2 hours)
Resources - Use only 30 minutes to 2 hours. You can spend a day only if your idea is something big, but not a second more than that. Try not to spend any money, but if you have to, nothing more than 50$.
Result - You should have the Simplest Possible Product(SPP) that showcases the basic usecase of your idea.
Example: Product Hunt began as an email list using Linkydink, a tool for creating daily email digests. People really enjoyed the daily email and the subscriber list grew organically and only then, Ryan decided to make a product out of it. This is the BEST EXAMPLE of our experiment.
STEP 3: Test the market (5-10 days)
CASE I: If you are going for Option 1 ie. Money, try to get atleast 10-15 people INTERESTED in your Simplest Possible Product(SPP). Ask them if they would be interested in buying your full fledged product at the cost of X$. Once you get around 10+ YES votes, go for it and convert your SPP into a Basic Sellable Product(BSP).
Caution: Do not spend more than 10-15 days for building the BSP. On an average, Number of YES votes = Number of days you put into building the product.
CASE II: If you are going for Option 2 ie. Users, try to get as many friends and acquantances USE your Simplest Possible Product(SPP). Get feedback from your community of users. Keep seeding you user community with a few important users, but most most importantly let it grow organically. Once you have atleast 100 POSITIVE feedbacks and anything between 200-500 ACTIVE users (who enjoy using your product or services), only then go ahead and build the Basic Sellable Product(BSP).
Caution: Do not spend more than 30 days for building the BSP. On an average, Number of ACTIVE users / 10 = Number of days you put into building the product.
For both Cases, Basic Sellable Product(BSP) is something that implements all BASIC usecases of your idea and has a good UI or appeal that makes it sellable.
Now, you guys can like this post and move on with your reading list. Or you can pick up your ass and find out the real potential of your idea.
So for the DOERS out of my READERS -
When you're done with atleast STEP 1, write a comment specifying
Good Luck!
You find out if she is SINGLE, right?
So, why not do the same thing with your Startup Idea.
Okay so I'm not gonna pester you with tips and techniques or lecture you on growth and other bullshit. Instead I'm gonna propose a simple but proven EXPERIMENT. If you pass the test, go ahead, build your Startup and make it large! If you cannot pass it, either you idea needs adjustments or it totally sucks.
 |
| PS: We won't need any of these items for our experiment. |
What Options does a Startup have?
Now every startup has 3 options:
- 1. Start earning money fast (Around 300-500$ in the initial month)
- 2. Start getting users fast (Around 1-2k in the initial month)
- 3. Spend a lot of time and money with no results and eventually shut it down
Sadly, I have seen a lot of startups ending up at Option 3; have even experienced a few myself. The problem is, no matter how much anybody writes about idea validation or market analysis it's all going to be a 'BIG BLAH' for you.
You ask WHY? Because you are in LOVE.
You idea is like your girlfriend. The more time you spend thinking about it, the more you fall for it.
Just imagine some stranger telling you to reconsider your choice of being with your girlfriend (the one you absolutely love). The hell you are going to consider it! But what if you saw her cheating on you. Now you are definitley gonna do something, huh?
The point is NOT to discourage you from doing something you love. The point is that our time is precious and if we decide to invest it on something, let's make sure that something is gonna be worth it! ( be it your idea or your girlfriend :D )
Experiment : The Truth Serum
Alright, so let's get started with our little experiment.
STEP 1: Get Feedback (30 mins)
Find just 3 people who might be your potential customers or fall under the same domain. Record the conversation or Write down what they actually say.
Resources - Use only 30 minutes for this activity.
Result - Refine you idea and your solution statement using the language of these prospects. You may repeat this step if you are still not confident about your idea.
Example: Your original idea might be to make a book or CDs on guitar lessons. After feedback you will realize that people do not have time or are probably not interested in buying a book. So you revise your idea into a subscription based email approach. Little 6-Minute guitar lessons daily in your inbox.
STEP 2: Bring your idea to life (30 mins to 2 hours)
Resources - Use only 30 minutes to 2 hours. You can spend a day only if your idea is something big, but not a second more than that. Try not to spend any money, but if you have to, nothing more than 50$.
Result - You should have the Simplest Possible Product(SPP) that showcases the basic usecase of your idea.
Example: Product Hunt began as an email list using Linkydink, a tool for creating daily email digests. People really enjoyed the daily email and the subscriber list grew organically and only then, Ryan decided to make a product out of it. This is the BEST EXAMPLE of our experiment.
STEP 3: Test the market (5-10 days)
CASE I: If you are going for Option 1 ie. Money, try to get atleast 10-15 people INTERESTED in your Simplest Possible Product(SPP). Ask them if they would be interested in buying your full fledged product at the cost of X$. Once you get around 10+ YES votes, go for it and convert your SPP into a Basic Sellable Product(BSP).
Caution: Do not spend more than 10-15 days for building the BSP. On an average, Number of YES votes = Number of days you put into building the product.
CASE II: If you are going for Option 2 ie. Users, try to get as many friends and acquantances USE your Simplest Possible Product(SPP). Get feedback from your community of users. Keep seeding you user community with a few important users, but most most importantly let it grow organically. Once you have atleast 100 POSITIVE feedbacks and anything between 200-500 ACTIVE users (who enjoy using your product or services), only then go ahead and build the Basic Sellable Product(BSP).
Caution: Do not spend more than 30 days for building the BSP. On an average, Number of ACTIVE users / 10 = Number of days you put into building the product.
For both Cases, Basic Sellable Product(BSP) is something that implements all BASIC usecases of your idea and has a good UI or appeal that makes it sellable.
Flowchart : The Truth Serum
Here is a flowchart of our experiment. |
| PS: I would be happy to be one of your ACTIVE users! |
What next?
Now, you guys can like this post and move on with your reading list. Or you can pick up your ass and find out the real potential of your idea.
So for the DOERS out of my READERS -
When you're done with atleast STEP 1, write a comment specifying
- 1. Original Idea
- 2. What people said
- 3. Refined Idea
- 4. How you built your SPP and where are you now ?
Good Luck!
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