Here's how I tried to validate–and decided to kill–a business idea quickly. We all have tons of ideas, but most are parked somewhere in our mind "for later." Don't do that. Look for a quick validation instead, then grow it or focus on the next one.
Problem
Starting my activity as angel investor, I find it suboptimal to use spreadsheets to keep track of investments and all other info about a company and a deal, and to have good analytics. Spreadsheets are ok, but not great for this purpose. And I couldn't find tools for angel investors (some tools are great for VCs and funds, but not for angels; AngelList is ok only for in-platform investments imho).
Idea
A business tool made on purpose for business angels: Keep the list of investments and any related info readily available, evolution of the portfolio over time, and analytics to monitor number of investments, amount, and ROI.
MVP
I build it on Bubble.io, powerful no-code platform. Steep learning curve to start, but it's crazy how with zero lines of code and $30 I managed to set up and run a web app on my own. Side project, 10-15 hours per week mostly evenings. Moreover, I love to learn. And building your own tool is so rewarding!
Validation
I talked about it and showed to other angel investors. Moreover, I reached out to great investors out of my network to remove bias.
The reaction was: "It's nice but..."
Decision
Kill the idea to focus on the other projects.
Reasoning
While there is space for such a tool, it would need much more exploration and development in a direction that goes well beyond angel investors, probably integrating functions for startups and competing with cap table management solutions and investment platforms. I like this space, but I think I have other more appealing and promising projects.
Post mortem on the process:
Maybe I could have saved time on the MVP. But beside being fun to build it, for a tool like this I think you can receive much better feedback from a MVP than just from talking. And it didn't take too long.
Would you have done something differently? I'd love to hear that!
Thats why you have some tools to quickly validate your product/idea BEFORE you launch it you may use tools like Checkmyidea-IA or Validatorai, and it will provide you personnalised feedbacks , so you don't waste time to build it.
I love Bubble too :)
Have you thought about repackaging it for other markets. Real estate is something that I immediately thought about. Maybe real estate investors (fix&flip, wholesale,buy&hold, etc).
Interesting. Can you elaborate more? I have no knowledge of these markets