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Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

jeremyaboyd.com

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Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#31

Post by thw_9a83c »

Aurornis wrote: post #30
thw_9a83c wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been working on a few ideas in my free time for several years, and I'm also a frequent bar visitor. I live in a central part of a European city that is quite tourist-heavy, and I don't have a problem talking to strangers, whether they're locals or tourists. I never initiate discussions about my hobby projects, but if enough beer is consumed, such discussions are inevitable. I have a clear impression that you can…

> I never initiate discussions about my hobby projects, but if enough beer is consumed, such discussions are inevitable. Bringing up a business idea as a conversation topic after getting to know someone over beers is one thing. This blog post isn't about that, though. It's about ambushing people at a bar and demanding they review your startup idea.

> ...It's about ambushing people at a bar and demanding they review your startup idea.

That sounds even worse to me. That needs a very friendly bar to afford to be that annoying. :)

Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#32

Post by vntok »

zkmon wrote: post #3

Actually, you can try seeking out your own brutally honest opinion about your own idea. Act like a stingy investor or a totally down-to-earth common man. You should quickly write down the terse half-line questions that your real childish inner self spits out, before they are drowned by the pitch from your refined outer-self.

At this point, why not simply order an LLM to roast the idea, acting as "the arch-enemy of the pitcher" or something akin to that?

Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#34

Post by mhb »

thw_9a83c wrote: post #29
tunesmith wrote: post #25

I went to a bar a few years ago and there was someone set up at a table in the corner with a weird-looking deck of cards and a sign that said, "help me test my game design!" That particular approach worked really well, but I think particularly because playing a game in a bar is fun.

In this case, it might work because you're not only asking for feedback; you're also (hopefully) contributing to people having fun.

$10 if you give me your opinion about my idea...

Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#35

Post by sublinear »

Aurornis wrote: post #22

This is a 2017 blog post. It's a throwback to earlier hustle culture writings, before writing like this on LinkedIn became a pop culture meme. Like most of the hustle culture writing, it's based on a single experience that may or may not have actually happened: The author approached someone in a bar and had a conversation, and now they're preaching this method as some groundbreaking business technique. Cold approache…

> I don't think this advice to go to bars and interrupt random people and demand their feedback is a good idea.

Since so many of the comments on here have been exceedingly negative and pearl-clutching...

Given the context of the typical user of this idea, buy them a shot each for their opinions later at night. You'll get a ton of feedback. It won't be coherent, but maybe it doesn't matter. What was the point of this idea again?

Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#36

Post by Aurornis »

sublinear wrote: post #35
Aurornis wrote: post #22

This is a 2017 blog post. It's a throwback to earlier hustle culture writings, before writing like this on LinkedIn became a pop culture meme. Like most of the hustle culture writing, it's based on a single experience that may or may not have actually happened: The author approached someone in a bar and had a conversation, and now they're preaching this method as some groundbreaking business technique. Cold approache…

> I don't think this advice to go to bars and interrupt random people and demand their feedback is a good idea. Since so many of the comments on here have been exceedingly negative and pearl-clutching... Given the context of the typical user of this idea, buy them a shot each for their opinions later at night. You'll get a ton of feedback. It won't be coherent, but maybe it doesn't matter. What was the point of this…

> negative and pearl-clutching...

It's not "pearl clutching" to explain why the feedback you get from this method isn't going to be helpful.

Annoying your focus group and intruding upon their night out isn't the way to get valid advice. It's how you get "please go away" advice when they start telling you anything to de-escalate and finish the task so they can get on with their night

> It won't be coherent, but maybe it doesn't matter.

I don't understand why people are fixated on the idea of gathering user feedback at a bar, even when they admit it's not going to be good advice.

What's even the point of this exercise? Why go to lengths to extract feedback from bar goers if you don't think it matters?

Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#37

Post by sublinear »

Aurornis wrote: post #36
sublinear wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think this advice to go to bars and interrupt random people and demand their feedback is a good idea. Since so many of the comments on here have been exceedingly negative and pearl-clutching... Given the context of the typical user of this idea, buy them a shot each for their opinions later at night. You'll get a ton of feedback. It won't be coherent, but maybe it doesn't matter. What was the point of this…

> negative and pearl-clutching... It's not "pearl clutching" to explain why the feedback you get from this method isn't going to be helpful. Annoying your focus group and intruding upon their night out isn't the way to get valid advice. It's how you get "please go away" advice when they start telling you anything to de-escalate and finish the task so they can get on with their night > It won't be coherent, but maybe…

It's pearl-clutching because bars typically aren't full of people with their assholes puckered quite so tightly and generally appreciate anything different than staring at the wall or talking to people they've known for years (do you remember?)

> Why go to lengths to extract feedback from bar goers if you don't think it matters?

We say this place isn't becoming reddit but man is this the ultimate moment to say "woosh"!

Re: Validating your ideas on strangers (2017)

#39

Post by redwood »

Aurornis wrote: post #22

This is a 2017 blog post. It's a throwback to earlier hustle culture writings, before writing like this on LinkedIn became a pop culture meme. Like most of the hustle culture writing, it's based on a single experience that may or may not have actually happened: The author approached someone in a bar and had a conversation, and now they're preaching this method as some groundbreaking business technique. Cold approache…

What is perhaps most throwback of all about this thing is that it casts drinking in a positive light.. how times have changed. I do miss aspects of the old days
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