How to validate product idea?
I've built several apps in the past. Every time I finish building an app I end up disappointed because I thought people were gonna use it. That's the problem with the engineering "product-first" mentality. Built it and they will come or so I thought.
I want the avoid the same pitfall that I had with previous business ideas and this time I got a new idea that I'm pretty sure solves a pain point.
To sum up the idea, I want to build an app for vegans that allows them to easily find vegan options at various restaurants.
I've been a vegetarian for over half my life and every time I go out to eat at restaurants, its hard to find legit vegan food. Either it takes me a shit ton of time searching restaurant menus on google or yelp ( I know they mark restaurants "vegan" but that don't mean shit ), or my friend suggests a restaurant and I find there's only 1 plate of salad that I could eat.
This could be a personal problem that I face pretty often, and I want to make sure I start getting potential app users on board with the idea before I actually build it.
Do you guys have any ideas for validating this potential idea?
Disclaimer: I am not a successful founder myself, but I do have a bit of knowledge about User-first approaches and a solid plan for validating my own ideas.
If you want users for your product you need to make sure
Step 1:
The first point is critical: Are you sure there is a problem or desire which needs to be filled? Is it only you or a hand full of people who have this problem? What solutions are already out there - what are they doing right or wrong?
While having this problem yourself is a good start, I would suggest you talk to potential users right from the start. What are their experiences? What are their pain points? If you have a chance go and shadow them, invite them on a night out and closely observe how they choose a vegan restaurant/place. Observe how they take their order and the decision process beforehand. Ask them to think out loudly and take notes.
The crux of this step is to validate your assumptions and idea. The trickiest assumptions are those who are hidden well, because they seem obvious. From your post I can extract a few of them which would require validation
To give you an example: People might not be willing to use their smartphone right before their order, as it might be considered rude to fiddle on your device in the restaurant, so if that were an assumption it would need proper validation.
Once you have gathered enough information and data to precisely define what is the problem, who is affected and what solutions are available right now only it is time to start on working out your own solution.
Step 2:
I suggest a rapid, user-centered development process. You might start with low-fidelity prototypes, even cut out pieces of paper with your app-design sketched on it. Invite a few potential users to use this Mockup in the context of a usability test. Give them a task to solve and just observe how they go about it, do they tend to make navigation mistakes? Are they unsure where to even start? All of this is valuable feedback for your first iterations.
You might even push the "actual development" back even further! Create a landing page for your project and add a "sign-up" button so you can gauge the popularity of the idea. Hack together a no-code prototype and share screenshots and gifs, see what feedback you get. Are people excited to try it out?
The user-testing never really stops from this point on, I suggest you have a look into "About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design", the process is explained in greater details there.
At any point however it should be possible to solve the user's problem in a clear, distraction-free and efficient way. Don't fall into the pit of "This is obvious, I can do it in 10 seconds" your actual users have different expectations and experience than you.
Step 3:
I can not really answer how to do that. I suggest talking to people experienced in marketing.
I know that all of this sounds like a lot of busy work without getting any "actual" work done, but it might save you from putting long hours into a project which does not attract users. At the very least, this process can help you identify critical problems very early on when they are still somewhat easy to fix.
Thanks for these suggestions, I like the point about validating assumptions which can be tricky!
+1 For rapid iteration. I find the faster I get into a Scrum or Agile mindset, the better I can validate ideas with a target user base.
How to validate your product before you even prototype it
Product validation helps you to be 100% certain that what you’re
building has market demand. This can strengthen your commitment to your
business while keeping you laser focused on the actions that will get
you to market faster.
Without real product validation, you’re essentially throwing resources into a lottery and hoping you hit the jackpot.
https://devsquad.com/blog/product-validation/
Before the validation, I didn't see the solution.
How is this app's listings not going to be shit?
Are you gonna list them by yourself?
Restaurants will add themselves?
Users/friends will add restaurants?
Do you have a plan to moderate better than yelp/google?
These are some good questions, I agree moderation is probably gonna be tricky if not costly, thanks for your reply.