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15 Comments

How do you validate your idea?

New here. Not sure if this is the correct place to post.
Basically the title. I have an idea and I can quickly make a prototype/MVP, but I am not even sure if people would be interested in it or not...
How do you go about validating your idea?

  1. 2

    Do you know who your potential customers would be for this product? Then gather a list of them (Google or LinkedIn, Reddit,Twitter or whatever) and reach out to them.

    “Hey. I have this problem and im building a tool for it. Do you also have the problem?”

    Obviously better questions than that. You can look at the book “Mom test” for it.

    Good luck 😊

    1. 2

      +1 to the Mom Test.

      Use a combo of desk research (google what background info you need), qualitative research (customer interviews), then more quantitative research (when needed).

    2. 1

      How would you use LinkedIn for this without paying for a premium account?

      1. 1

        Say for example that your product is helping freelance copywriters. I would then either search Google, LinkedIn or other channels after freelance copywriters. For example in LinkedIn I would just type “freelance copywriters” in the search tool.

        Then I would start to try and connect with some of them. Maybe get 5-10 people that could answer some of your questions.

        This could be through email as well by finding their website through Google for example.

        What you want is conversations with your target customer. How you find them is up to you 😊. Maybe there is a Facebook group or Reddit board to post in? Doesn’t matter as long as you can have conversations and see if your product is something people would pay for.

  2. 1

    I'm building a habit tracker that is a better version of a hack Excel tracker I used previously. I validated it on reddit by figuring out which communities my core users hang out in the most. Here's a recent post I did that got 77 upvotes and a lot of product development ideas.

    The strategy in a nutshell: Figure out where your core user hangs out and contribute there consistently. Reddit is one of the channels for me.

  3. 1

    In the near future, I'd spin up a landing page on fabulous.so with a sign up form and check if there is any interest

  4. 1

    You have the MVP, do you have a landing page? Depending on how much validation you're looking for, the landing page should capture one of the following (easiest to hardest) from users to show validation:

    1. Email address
    2. Preorders
    3. Actual sale
  5. 1

    Ni Nkap,
    If you can quickly build the MVP, just do it! Show it to friends and family and ask for their opinions!

  6. 1

    You have two options:

    1. check similar products online, are people or businesses already paying for them? then make a better product and you are almost good to go.
    2. in case you are creating something new, ship something really quick (MVP) and try to get at lease some users to pay for it. This means, your product is solving a problem that's painful enough and people are willing to pay for it.

    ps: using the product is not enough, people must be willing to pay for it otherwise you will not survive as a business later on, unless you have another business model in head.

  7. 1

    Make the MVP and put it out into the world! Spread the word and tell your friends. It helps if you start to cultivate a following or audience even before you launch, but if you don't have an audience to launch to, find communities and people online who would be interested. Offer them a free trial for feedback. That gets the ball rolling.

  8. 1

    Why it matters: Before you begin the rigorous process of starting a business, you first need to find a viable real-world problem worth solving that your potential customers would pay money for.

  9. 1

    Problem it solves: Most founders started their business without testing their ideas, which commonly led to their shutdowns from strong competition because they offered no unique selling point.

  10. 1

    How you benefit: You will learn to analyze the idea uniqueness and business viability of your conceptual ideas, such as identifying problem-market fit and validating problem-solution fit, or test hypothetical assumptions without the risk of expensive and painful failure, and so on.

  11. 1

    Idea validation: Our idea checker is powered by AI to scientifically validate your intuitive ideas to reduce risks of business failure.

  12. 1

    Hi @nkap, perhaps you may want to consider validating your intuitive/hunch idea with our idea checker?

    It's free to use and you'll be protected with our Confidentiality Agreement in order to use it.

    Idea checker: https://www.flipidea.co/tools/founders/idea-validation

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