I'm interested in what stops people skipping this vital step, especially when "no market need" is often cited as the top reason for startup failure. Surely validation mitigates a huge amount of this risk, so why do startups avoid it so often?
Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#2From my practice: when a person inspired by ideas comes to you, he is elated and does not see the need to check the market.
If he has already had setbacks or there is a skeptic in the team, then he was lucky) most likely he will somehow check the market and the niche where he wants to launch his product.
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#3Time, perhaps? You can find a handful of customers to "validate" a product relatively easily (at least enough to justify it in an early Powerpoint deck.) This doesn't mean there's enough customer demand for a real business.
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#4Time, perhaps? You can find a handful of customers to "validate" a product relatively easily (at least enough to justify it in an early Powerpoint deck.) This doesn't mean there's enough customer demand for a real business.
So you think it might be a resource thing? If they had more time/money/runway they would possibly do a better job?
Agreed that it's easy to think you've validated by getting a handful of people to nod enthusiastically at a Powerpoint!
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#5There are a couple of reasons:
- It's uncomfortable. You are typically so excited about an idea that the thought of learning it doesn't have mass appeal is uncomfortable. People avoid uncomfortable realities. In other words: "I KNOW this is a great idea, I just KNOW it. If I don't build this NOW, someone else will beat me to it. I don't have time to waste talking to customers. If Henry Ford would've asked people what they wanted, they would've said a faster horse."
- People are proud, if they're going to show a product to their friends/family, they want to make sure it's well-built, fully featured, etc... The idea of "just getting something in front of customers that works" aka an MVP is embarrassing for some people. They think that if they release a "amateur" product, people will think they're amateur.
- People are irrational. They think that their idea is so special that asking people about it, getting validation, etc... could make them a target for idea theft. So they isolate themselves, validate with a few close friends (who are unlikely to give honest, brutal feedback) and build a huge product so that when they launch, they'll be far ahead of their competitors. The problem with this is that you'll likely build the wrong product the first time around.
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#6because I can't find enough potential customers in my direct network. reaching out to strangers is also difficult without trust. the cold email response rate is 2%. For example, I built a new blogging platform (https://epiphany.pub), I couldn't find many bloggers in my direct network. I start a project to fulfill my needs, but I don't know where to find enough other mes.
also it is a chicken-egg dilemma. It's hard to validate without a prototype. (I know the dropbox story, it won't work in all cases.) sometimes, a product is trying to improve user experience, not about an innovative idea. I think that user experience has to be felt.
I also feel that customer interviews might be misleading sometimes. I remember when iphone was launched first time, it was way pricier than other cell phones. A lot of people were nay sayers including myself.
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#7Time, perhaps? You can find a handful of customers to "validate" a product relatively easily (at least enough to justify it in an early Powerpoint deck.) This doesn't mean there's enough customer demand for a real business.
So you think it might be a resource thing? If they had more time/money/runway they would possibly do a better job? Agreed that it's easy to think you've validated by getting a handful of people to nod enthusiastically at a Powerpoint!
Yes, resource constraints, and overly optimistic, often delusional, thinking. (The idea is so great, it doesn't need validation... etc.)
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#8I would argue that "no market need" is not one of the biggest reasons why startups/companies fail. Most startups fail because they fail to execute specifically within their market and/or find their product/market fit. So in other words, market is definitely there but there is failure in execution and inability to capture a decent market share. They try to sell to everyone which basically becomes you sell to no one (unless you are Amazon but that takes 20+ years of capital to survive and is outlier)
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#9[deleted]
Re: Why don't founders validate properly? Or, why didn't *you* validate properly
#10because I can't find enough potential customers in my direct network. reaching out to strangers is also difficult without trust. the cold email response rate is 2%. For example, I built a new blogging platform ( https://epiphany.pub ), I couldn't find many bloggers in my direct network. I start a project to fulfill my needs, but I don't know where to find enough other mes. also it is a chicken-egg dilemma. It's hard…
I think customer interviews are definitely part of the mix, if done right (have you read The Mom Test?), but they don't give you 100% clarity. Perhaps just a more solid hypothesis...