Make a T-shirt talking about your product. "Ask me for a demo, right now (yep, at this Starbucks)". See how many people take you up on your offer. :)
Haven't tested this, but I will soon. :)
The $20 Starbucks Test
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Re: The $20 Starbucks Test
#62Ok, enough about the lying. Trivial spin on the technique: get a buddy to do it. Now he's telling the truth, about You.
Re: The $20 Starbucks Test
#63Better idea: pay people on Mechanical Turk 10¢ each to bash your idea. You'll get 200 people's feedback instead of 5 from the Starbucks. If even only 1 out of every 30 takes the job seriously, you'll get a better bang for your buck.
Recent post: Mechanical Turk is broken. Feedback is no better than random. People are gaming it, so no value left.
Re: The $20 Starbucks Test
#64This was exactly the technique employed by a young drug effected person asking for money who was standing outside the local supermarket. "My mother is suddenly ill and I need $10 / $20 bucks to get to X." Except the guy doesn't tell you his startup idea.
Actually this guy is giving away money (well, coffee), not asking for it.
Re: The $20 Starbucks Test
#65People have no idea what they want or need, or even what they like. Observe the following empirical evidence as presented by respected marketer Malcolm Gladwell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y
Also, that bit about a heart valve is a sly reference to a famous polymath-type who invented a revolutionary kind of heart valve as just one part of a long and incredibly varied career. Can anyone remember who this is? Google is giving me nothing.
Re: The $20 Starbucks Test
#66I think I'd be uncomfortable with this not because of approaching random strangers but rather approaching them with false pretenses. You're essentially fooling people into listening to your ill-formed business plan by lying to their face about non-existant siblings in non-existant danger. Whatever happened to being honest with people? "Hi. Can I buy you a cup of coffee in exchange for some feedback? Five minutes is a…
I have to ask - is doing scientific experiments where you lie to some of the people in the study also dishonest to the point where you're uncomfortable?
It seems that most here had a really harsh reaction to the idea of lying in order to get honest feedback. And I honestly don't understand why. The lying is only there to give people the psychological distance they need from you in order to answer honestly - you're not lying to take advantage of anyone, you're not lying to get someone to buy something from you, you're only lying to make them comfortable in telling you the truth.
Note: I'm specifically speaking only about saying that your brother had the idea. I'm not talking about saying "I'm worried about my brother" to get them to talk to you, which I also think is wrong.
Re: The $20 Starbucks Test
#67Better idea: pay people on Mechanical Turk 10¢ each to bash your idea. You'll get 200 people's feedback instead of 5 from the Starbucks. If even only 1 out of every 30 takes the job seriously, you'll get a better bang for your buck.
Interesting -- have you done this successfully?
No, but this person has: http://harperlindsey.com/2010/09/01/how-i-used-amazons-mecha...