If you've scratched your own itch, find more people with your own itch. Try to onboard every user: this let's you show them how to use it, and you'll learn more watching them use it than any second-degree data you pick up.
Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
91–100 of 114 posts
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#92Hmm... I just read a great book by Rob Fitzpatrick that talks about having customer conversation. It's called The Mom Test.
I did a summary here: https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-the-mom-test-by-rob-fit...
I recommend getting a copy, solid advice from a past y-combinator founder.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#93For us, it was trade shows. We did the math: what would we pay per person to have them take a look at our software, and how many people did we think we'd get to come by our booth at a show? I realize this can vary by industry though, in ours a standard booth is roughly $1000 which is far more affordable than most. We learned a ton and made contact with our first customers who ended up being vital in helping us refine…
This resonates a lot. What line of business are you in?
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#94You are are asking the question that we are asking ourselves too. We have a call tracking solution that we need to get eyeballs on. The url is https://calltrak.io
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#95This is actually a very insightful question. You get them the same way you plan to get customers after you have built the product. If you do not have a way to get customers to test the idea, then you do not have a way to get customers after you build the product. The process of building an MVP includes the process of figuring out distribution. That said, it depends a lot on what type of product you are building. If y…
> If you do not have a way to get customers to test the idea, then you do not have a way to get customers after you build the product.
I need to hear this. Wow, really well thought out sentence. It makes so much sense.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#96When you work on the first idea/MVP, try to find an idea that you or your family can use.
If you and your family friend can use it, then you will feel the awakrd when you demo a product to them immediately.
Try to record a video tell about your product, you will realize so many crap your product has without any feedback from outside. You will feel the pain.
As in, where to find feedback. you have to hang out in where your target audience hang out. Eg, for me, I have an email forwarding app, and I try to google question about email forwarding (cloudflare, reddit, quora) and answer them. By answer those questions, you kind of feel the painp point.
If you consistently pushing, people will reach out to your eventually.
Don't lose hope when it seems no one care your product. Good luck.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#97I have a system for this. You have two problems, not one. You need to get useful feedback out of 100pct of people, and you might need more people. To get useful feedback, distill your potential value proposition to one sentence. If you have multiple ways of saying it, make a couple. But one sentence only and write it down. When you have someone from the correct category (target market) on the phone, yes, you need a p…
This is very high value. Nicely refined down to the core.
My experience with less sharp, more verbose variations on this show that results are colored by how they like you and that diminishes the clarity of the value information.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#98I have a system for this. You have two problems, not one. You need to get useful feedback out of 100pct of people, and you might need more people. To get useful feedback, distill your potential value proposition to one sentence. If you have multiple ways of saying it, make a couple. But one sentence only and write it down. When you have someone from the correct category (target market) on the phone, yes, you need a p…
This is a great comment but it assumes the poster has answered their posted question of "Where do you find potential customers?"
Once they have their value statement, it boils down to researching where it fits, researching potential prospects, then applying what the comment says.
The research, coupled with networking should identify types of prospects and how they do business.
From there, asking ones self whether the value can make sense should filter out gross misalignment, but not always!
Really understanding how organizations make their money is needed to target. Networking, shopping the value prop around should spark interest and potential research targets.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#99First, friend networks, and then LinkedIn. If I can get someone interested enough for a call / action I might be onto something.
I think feedback from friends is helpful if you craft it to be very specific and keep it outside your relationship.
And, LinkedIn is amazing for zeroing in on people who might be interested.
Re: Ask HN: Where do you find potential customers to validate your idea / MVP?
#100> without spamming HN or reddit Do you customers spend time there? Then go ahead and ask for feedback. > P.S. A fiverr clone for product owners or analysts might be what I'm looking for here. Cold emails through LinkedIn? Or product owners and analysts your friend/former colleagues can introduce you to? Product meet-ups are a thing as well (most likely online). You might try talking to people and asking for feedback…
They do spend time there, it's one of the only places that i know where FIRE enthousiasts hang out regularely.
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