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Got a startup idea? Validate it with the Startup Toolkit

thestartuptoolkit.com

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Re: Got a startup idea? Validate it with the Startup Toolkit

#24

Post by khangtoh »

edw519 wrote: post #4

My first thought was that this would be silly. Until I went inside and saw for myself. Very thought provoking, an exercise definitely worth my while. Until I read this: We'll try our best to preserve your data, but no guarantees. Your canvas is secured by obscurity, which is to say it's not very secure at all. Anyone with your canvas' URL may view and edit it. If and when we add a paywall, we'll make sure you can exp…

This can be solved easily with a passphrase so you enter the passphrase on the page and then permission is granted, not the best but makes it more secure.

Still no TOS or anything saying that you ARE not giving up ownership of the data your enter.

Re: Got a startup idea? Validate it with the Startup Toolkit

#26

Post by robfitz »

curiousfiddler wrote: post #17

To be very honest, my first thought is that in all "HONESTY" you CANNOT do all this - its impossible to do all these things (claimed on the website), without experiencing those in person and it will vary from person to person based on the context, circumstances, idea etc. I think it will be a disservice to any confused soul (I am guessing those are the kind of people who would hit your site) by claiming to do things…

The app doesn't do anything for you, except give you a bit of scaffolding so you can make your own decisions.

If you look at startup case studies, the worrying constant is how obvious most of their failures are. We lose track of our basic business assumptions and end up charging down dead-ends or building products nobody wants.

By explicitly stating our assumptions in an easily consumable way, it keeps you aware of what you're trying to prove and helps you avoid those "obvious" mistakes.

Re: Got a startup idea? Validate it with the Startup Toolkit

#27

Post by robfitz »

efader wrote: post #23

This seems like a derivative of the business model generation book

It is, as stated in the credits at the bottom of the page. 4 of the blocks are the same as the original biz model generation canvas, and the other 5 are tailored to early stage startups. I also changed the layout from being cash-driven to value-driven and embedded some stripped down worksheets into each of the blocks, which leads to a slightly different use-case (communication & documentation instead of discovery & discussion)

Re: Got a startup idea? Validate it with the Startup Toolkit

#30

Post by curiousfiddler »

robfitz wrote: post #26
curiousfiddler wrote: post #17

To be very honest, my first thought is that in all "HONESTY" you CANNOT do all this - its impossible to do all these things (claimed on the website), without experiencing those in person and it will vary from person to person based on the context, circumstances, idea etc. I think it will be a disservice to any confused soul (I am guessing those are the kind of people who would hit your site) by claiming to do things…

The app doesn't do anything for you, except give you a bit of scaffolding so you can make your own decisions. If you look at startup case studies, the worrying constant is how obvious most of their failures are. We lose track of our basic business assumptions and end up charging down dead-ends or building products nobody wants. By explicitly stating our assumptions in an easily consumable way, it keeps you aware of w…

Okay here's a (hypothetical) use case: I want to create a software product, say a database, because I see myself solving a real problem by way of creating my product. My whole idea is driven by a real problem statement and my passion. How does this fit in here? Don't you think all those blocks are a little misleading for a product like this? Or like these: http://projects.apache.org/indexes/quick.html ?
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