I have an idea that has been validated before, and I know could ultimately be quite profitable.
I have an idea that has been validated before, and I know could ultimately be quite profitable. I aim at setting up an MVP for it to further validate it, but past there, what do I do?
My specific niche requires quite a lot of capital, and wise guidance to succeed. I like to think I'm somewhat wise, and business savvy, but the capital I'd need to get going is a bit far out of my league.
I've never spoken to investors, nor know of any in Australia. This is technically my 'first major startup', where I am building a product along with a service and delivering it to customers outside of the internet and the app store.
All in all, I'm a little in over my head, but I really would love to pursue the concept past ideation. I'm thinking of trying to meet a mentor who could possibly assist me and lead me in the right direction in my area.
My next steps are: produce a proper business plan and validate via my MVP.
Any tips from founders who have, been there done that?
Thanks!
If your idea is capital-intensive, I'd suggest you try as hard as possible to validate your idea without building an MVP. It doesn't sound as if you can afford to make mistakes by building the wrong thing.
As for finding guidance, where do the people you need guidance from hang out? Are there meetups, networking events or other places you can find them? What about online hangouts, or just getting in touch with people via LinkedIn?
Realistically, my MVP is just a way to collect emails onto a waitlist before I launch. This would probably decently help with validation, correct?
We don't have many events around here, finding people is incredibly difficult. LinkedIn just seems awkward too.
Ah, OK - if your MVP is just a landing page with a signup form that feeds onto a mailing list, then hell yes you should go ahead and build it!
I agree that contacting people via LinkedIn is uncomfortable. I have huge problems whenever I need to cold contact anyone, by any method. But I think it's probably going to be what you need to do, unfortunately.
IMO, the advice in this blog post is very good. Scroll down to "Getting Your Idea Off The Ground"
https://blog.gettamboo.com/the-epic-guide-to-bootstrapping-a-saas-startup-from-scratch-by-yourself-part-1-4d834e1df8c1
@recon, I can help you our in your initial brainstorm to figure out possible options to get started. Building early traction for side projects (www.tractionmate.com) is one of the things that I am currently involved in. You can reach out to me through email, if want to have a quick skype call.
Thanks for the kind offer, I'm sending you an email now :)