Looking for mentorship around pre-validation/business development
I am a software developer struggling to figure out how to validate my app ideas. In return for someone experienced and successful in this, I can help you build your idea or give you a cut of whatever my project makes.
Trending on Indie Hackers
Hi Nimmy, Feel free to reach out I have a simple quick ideas that we can work on.
Hello,
I've written about this here:
https://fullstackplus.tech/2017/10/27/PROTOSPRINT
... and I have a service around it here:
https://fullstackplus.tech/solutions/protosprint
It's a process I've used and am using to create prototypes at the earliest stage.
The trick about prototyping is knowing what features to prioritize. It's difficult to validate something if you cannot show it to a potential user as a demo (however minimal).
If you like what you see, I'd be happy to help you out — just reach out to me here or through my website.
PS. This methodology is primarily for web apps, not native apps.
Kinde provides kick-ass authentication and its free to validate your app ideas up to 7,500 MAU. Check it out at https://kinde.com/
Validation is not so easy to achieve, I guess the first thing is to figure out who would be your early adopters. Reach out to these early adopters through offline mode, talking to them personally will help build the rapport and get you an honest feedback. Alternatively, if you want to validate with a large audience, throw some freebies, vouchers for using/testing the product.
Hi @nimmy. I know your pain, I'm a software developer/founder too and reaching out to people out of your circle can be frustrating. Even if you get a couple of them, I find that its super difficult to reach a high 'confidence' that your business idea is validated.
I'm wondering, and just as an open question (no right/wrong answers) would you spend $$ in getting quality 1:1s with people that is expert in that domain / potential customers?
Hey! We have just written about it; give it a look here
We will post more in the next few days about idea validation, so keep updated.
Feel free to contact me if you will need personal help, this is my project.
Hey @nimmy i read you're trying to build a business around dry cleaning businesses. I tried to build a business in a very similiar area (kleenup.de). If you are interested, let's talk :)
Hallöchen! Nice to see a fellow German indieHacker. Your website looks pretty cool!
Hey :) Yeah nice and thank you very much 🙏 What are you doing. If you like just send me a dm.
Depends on the nature of the business, type of application/product, and which aspect you want to validate: problem, demand/market, product, or monetisation. There are many different methods for each layer, each with their pros and cons. Tools available for different kinds of jobs and part art/science knowing which one to use when and how.
https://productplaybooks.com
Then there's the business side of things and modelling it. Lean Canvas is not necessarily a method of validation, but it's designed to articulate the main components of the business and thus identify the assumptions the idea is based on.
https://leanstack.com/lean-canvas/
Once you're able to dissect the idea into its main components, you should be able to evaluate each one in terms of clarity, certainty, requirements, etc., and by that pinpoint the most likely points of failure. Those are the aspects you should focus on testing and proving first.
https://uxdesign.cc/riskiest-assumption-canvas-73ec0e2e0abc
https://www.thesprintbook.com
I hope this gives you enough material and context to send you in the right direction. If not, feel free to get in touch. I'd be happy to dive deeper into specific challenges you're dealing with. Good luck!
Pretty cool. What is your idea Nimmy?
Can you tell us the validation process you've gone through so far? What is the roadblock you're hitting?
My attempt is to talk to customers. So in one case, owners of dry cleaning businesses. I sent emails and Instagram messages to about 20-25 of those asking to talk about their problems around delivery, payment details, and discoverability, but have received zero replies. I am struggling to get users to talk to me. So the roadblock is reaching people and getting them to talk.
Got it. Offline, old school businesses seem tough for cold outreach. Have you tried going into some local businesses and talking to them in person?
Yea I have tried that, but it usually goes somewhat awkwardly.
For one of my interests - dry cleaning - there's a language barrier. The vast majority of dry cleaning operators near me don't speak English.
Besides, usually by walking in I meet an employee who just wants to be left along/doesn't want to discuss business-level problems, or whoever is operating the business is busy, well, operating :)
If it makes you feel any better, I generally think that the harder a business is to sell into (old school dry cleaners run totally analog, with an added language barrier seems to qualify), the better the business opportunity. If you can find your way across that moat, you might have a good opportunity on your hands.
Another option would be finding a friend who knows someone in the industry and can do a warm intro?
Yea I'll definitely try. I feel the same way about the moat/opportunity challenge here. It's just frustrating because I know I can build it :p
I know a little bit about the industry. It will be difficult for you to understand the ins and outs (ex. drop off, full service, factory) and workflow. Your sales will be just as difficult and require creativity. Not trying to be discouraging, just want you to be aware of challenges.
Hi,
What is your development stack?
Depends on the problem. I gave a pretty long description on a previous comment:
If it's mostly about syncing data around the cloud (e.g., IndieHackers) I'd use Phoenix LiveView in Elixir hosted on Heroku. If I need a lot of local state then Elm hosted on Netlify. Both backed by Supabase for auth and Postgres. If I needed a backend for the Elm app I'd use either Scala, Haskell, or Node depending on the complexity of the project and how much integration I need with third party SDKs.
This essentially forms a decision tree:
If mostly syncing data from different clients in the cloud, that is, realtime is important and not much local state is kept, then Elixir/Phoenix LiveView hosted on Heroku.
Else use Elm hosted on Netlify, and if
Need a backend:
Else Node
Else: N/A
Regardless, use Supabase as the auth and database layers and TailwindCSS for styling.
Thanks for the response.
My advice to you is to build an audience of your target market using a social media platform where most of your clients hang out. This could take up to 6-12 months to achieve but will be the best place to validate all your ideas. Alternatively, find an already established account that many of your clients follow and pay them to advertise or just contact their most engaging followers.
Stick to only 10 users and make them really happy with your product then once you find a product-market fit, scale it from there.
Fellow Elm + Haskell enthusiast here! How would you compare the experience of using Supabase vs DIY auth/postgres via Yesod?
I don't really use Yesod as I am against frameworks. I use Servant. The nice things about using Supabase's auth is that the auth is handled for you (no need to store passwords). It comes with pre-made endpoints to reset passwords, send magic links, register, etc, as well as SSO integrations with major providers s.a., Google, Facebook, GitHub.
I use Haskell sparingly in places that benefit from having a correct program with strong types. Recently, a complex reporting engine for accounting. I find that for general product development Haskell demands more precision from the developer than what is needed to ship the product, resulting in slowed output for little gain. But for those workflows where you really need to be right all the time, it's amazing. I think of it like special forces: don't use it everywhere, but for the few cases you need it, it kicks ass :)
Thanks for the explanation. Cheers :)
This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
I got "build it" for every question! Still would love to get some validation from actual potential customers.