⚒ 5 Ways to Test Startup Ideas
Howdy Indiehackers. Welcome back to the 478 of you opening up today's newsletter! If you'd like to sign up to receive new startup ideas each week, add your email here.
Summer's Here
Summer's in the air and ice-coffee's are in our hands. It used to be vanilla cokes before Ronaldo chopped $4B of their stock, but we're still happy campers since y'all been dishing some killer startup ideas.
Today's for the long time lurkers that wanna test their startup ideas but don't know how to start. Let's dive in 🗞
Before we dig in, we had a new Kernal member join our platform that might get you excited to pitch a startup idea to. His name: Matt Mickiewicz. His resume? Chief Revenue Officer, Unstoppable Domains. Previously founded 99designs, Flippa, and Hired. Not a bad indiehackers bio if you ask us.
Quick Double click on Matt Mickiewicz:
Looking forward to seeing what startup ideas you toss up! 🤓
The Startup Equation
Coming up with start up ideas is easy. What stumps most people is the execution piece. And while the qualification process of testing ideas can be challenging, it's also where most of the fun begins. Gaurav breaks down the math here: ⚖
To expand on this further, here's the trends we've found:
🌏 Great startup ideas can come from everywhere and anyone
🛠 Great startup ideas don't always equal great operators
🏦 Great startups ideas don't always find quality funding
As a result, we're building Kern.al 🌱
With these 3 learnings in mind — and to steal a line from Shopfiy's President:
We're arming the rebels to help us.
To bring each of you up to speed, we wanted to share 5 tactics founders are using to test their ideas (before wasting 10 years building something no one needs 😅).
⚒ 5 Ways to Test Startup Ideas
💬 Ask your Network:
Building strong relationships is crucial if you wanna cut through the noise. After trust is built, you're given the sacred space to ask questions, promote causes and share ideas you care about with that person. This is where your opportunity to run a startup idea by them could be hiding.
At the bottom of each Kernal idea, you're given a URL to copy/paste wherever you see fit. If you've got a couple phrases and a photo teed up, why not text it to a friend or investor to hear their thoughts? If you're on a hot streak in your #marketing slack channel, why not run an idea by the group?
Heck, the people that see it might even wanna help you build it. 🤷🏽♀️
✉️ Email a killer startup idea
💰 Let your Community Vote:
Tik Tok, Twitter, IG, or LinkedIn. The tactics are all the same. After you have an audience drummed up, pin it to your fans to see what they think. This is where the classic "request for startup" lingo earns its spotlight. 🔦
Entrepreneurs default to asking others to roast their startup ideas with the plan that if it makes it through heat, you might be left with a golden idea and a couple curious lurkers to help you build it.
Why not get off the sidelines and post up an idea you think has some legs? You never know where it can take you...
🔎 When in Doubt, Tweet it Out:
KP is a great example of someone that builds in public and isn't scared to turn to his Twitter fam when he has an itch for an idea. His latest idea is ripe for picking.
His playbook?
- Find an idea or problem that needs fixing
- Tweet it out to hear who'd wanna build it
- Bonus: turn your tweet into a Kernal idea to qualify if builders or investors would jump in.
And Voilà: ✨
Even if it doesn't IPO for $2B the next week, it's a great way to feel out if it's worth your time. If it doesn't pass the threshold, put it on the back burner list to build it out via no-code on a rainy day. 😏
✉️ See KP's startup idea or share my own
☎️ Make a Phone Call:
In Clement's article, he shares how fast Richard Branson acted when he came up with his idea for Virgin Atlantic. 🛫
When he got the itch, his next step (that same day) was to call up airlines and enquire about plane rentals. As you now know, the plan turned out beautifully and the English business magnate now operates 37 aircrafts. Not a bad way to test an idea before putting it back in the notebook. 📚
📱Call someone about a cool startup idea
✏️ Journal it out:
James Altucher is well known for his kick to founders for making idea sharing a daily habit. The exact words from his blog:
Ideas are the currency of life. Not money. Money gets depleted until you go broke. But good ideas buy you good experiences, buy you better ideas, buy you better experiences, buy you more time, save your life. Financial wealth is a side effect of the “runner’s high” of your idea muscle.
His advice: Get a writer's pad and start generating 10 ideas a day. 📖
You'll be happier, full of curiosity and damn more likely to jump on the right startup idea when it surfaces.
A recent one that an indiehackers member sent us through this email newsletter was an idea by Will Smith titled: Indiehackers for Acquisition Entrepreneurs. It likely started in Will’s journal, but slowly made it out into the online world. Have any feedback for him? Leave a comment here.
✉️ Move a journaled startup idea to Kernal
TL;DR:
🔑 Ask your network what they think
🔑 Let your audience vote
🔑 Tweet them out
🔑 Make a phone call
🔑 Journal out the gems
How do you test startup ideas? We'd love to hear. Reply to the email or drop us a note to share your go-to tactic.
That’s it for today’s round up of startup ideas. Liked the deep dive? Let me know on twitter @joel_hansen_ or drop me an email at hello@joelhansen.com.
Want to submit a startup idea to be featured in the next round-up? Post one here or sign up to be a Kernal member with this link: https://kern.al/register?invitecode=INDIEHACKER.
Stay out of trouble and see you next week.
P.S. Liked the newsletter? Forward it to a friend or have them sign up here to get next week's round-up.
Joel
