42 illustrated takeaways from 2 videos, 4 podcasts and 1 book

This week I've been sharing 7 visual threads of key takeaways from 7 different sources on the Startup Illustrated Twitter. I've compiled and expanded them further in this week's newsletter of Startup Illustrated.

Here is an excerpt of one of the most popular threads!

4 takeaways on validation and reducing uncertainty on the Bootstrapped Founder Podcast

Source: The Bootstrapped Founder Podcast by Arvid Kahl - Episode 62: Avoiding the Validation Trap

1. Look to invalidate your assumptions rather than validate them.

The hypothesis for your product will naturally be built on a lot of assumptions.

Instead of painting a beautiful picture which people will not say "no" to, find ways which their actions or workflow invalidates the assumptions you hold.

Only then can you come closer to knowing if your product will fit in their lives.

2. Validation by invalidation is like carving a statue from marble.

It is the process of taking away everything that does not work.

The solution which you ended up with might be different from what was intended. However, it will be one that is actually useful to the people who need it.

3. You can never be certain. You can only look to reduce uncertainty as much as possible.

As you talk to more customers, your hypothesis will contain less and less assumptions. However, it will never be able to be assumption free as any enterprise worth undertaking will have you dabbling in creating something new.

Aiming to get rid of uncertainty will result in us conciously or unconciously gravitate towards trying to validate the idea instead of us attempting to invalidate our assumptions.

We should all work towards reducing the amount of uncertainty as much as possible rather than getting rid of it completely.

4. Your target audience's workflow, questions, and usage patterns will provide valuable insights.

If you tell them the ideal product where everything is working perfectly, no one will say no to using it. However, that is not helpful in knowing if it will be an actually useful product.

Observe their actions and questions and it will provide you insight into if your product will fit into their lives and processes which is infinitely more useful than a promise that they will use your product if it function perfectly.

If you'd like to read the full piece, you can check it out here: https://www.startupillustrated.com/Archive/42-illustrated-takeaways/

If you have any questions, queries, or comments at all, my DMs are open at my Twitter and the Startup Illustrated Twitter!