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How to validate your startup idea quickly

amanjain.substack.com

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Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#51

Post by aspenmayer »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #49
aspenmayer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet I bumped into a childhood hero of mine, Leo Laporte of tech broadcasting fame, at an impromptu meetup he did at a bar in SF I heard about on his Twitter. So as I lived in SF at the time (~2012 I think?), I just went and met one of my role models. Sure, you don’t know if you don’t go. But you also don’t know if you don’t know to go . Can going be taught? Isn’t that what startups do?

Sorry I’m lost in a spiral of metaphor now! Say what?

I did the thing. I’m still in the race. Am I winning? I know I am because I never raced you. Or maybe I am right now? If I lost, would I even notice? Should I care to win? At what cost?

The post was factual, as are all of my posts, in my own overwrought efforts to be satirical, witty, clever, or argumentative, in the spirit of debate of course.

My point is, I guess if I could even find a common thread, is this. Don’t stop racing. It’s what makes you want to be who you’re not. If that doesn’t inspire you, go meet your heroes and their friends and associates and nearby hackers, and get back to me.

Shout out to Noisebridge.

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#52

Post by mpfundstein »

onion2k wrote: post #34
irjustin wrote: post #23

A number of the comments are saying this is bad because from Facebook, numbers are unrealistic ($100mm?!), signs tell you nothing. Personally, I've done startups longer than I want to admit (10+ yrs). If I was to start another one, the play book would look basically like this article. Idea/Thesis, Hypothesis, Target, Test and some where later - build. The problem I had when I started and why so many founders get it w…

Idea/Thesis, Hypothesis, Target, Test and some where later - build. This is a common strategy if you just want to 'do a startup' but it misses the need . Every successful business I can think of started with a founder needing a product to exist. All the startups I've been involved in have been products I wanted to exist because I needed them myself, or I had a close relationship with someone who needed them. Turning…

the whole Lean Startup methodology is snake oil IMO. it is used primarily by consultants to lure big corps into "innovation methodologies".* While its certainly an improvement over status quo, results were mostly meh anyway. you just cant force good ideas

the best startups are the ones mentioned by OP. visionary founder who needs that stuff himself.

* i was director at a small 7mm/yr consultancy and did precisely that

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#53

Post by PopeDotNinja »

aspenmayer wrote: post #22
adventured wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whatever thing you are building at Facebook starts out with 10 hurricanes of wind behind it. It's remarkable how often things still fail miserably despite hurricane-force winds behind them, as with Hobbi and Lasso. Facebook got their ass royally kicked by Pinterest and TikTok. July 2nd: "Facebook is shutting down TikTok clone Lasso and Pinterest rival Hobbi" https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/02/lasso-shut-down-facebook.…

Startups are street racers: you never know who you’re racing next to. They might have bigger sponsors than their sleeper suggests. A NASCAR analogy would therefore apply to traditional VC centers like SF, NYC, etc. It’s hard to pass someone before a turn at 200 MPH, but if you don’t do it, plenty of other people can and will . Practically anyone can build a racecar, or a startup. The race puts proof to the lie: not e…

The trick isn’t to build a faster car. The trick is to build something more fun across the street so going to the race is less interesting than your thing.

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#55

Post by kebman »

This looks similar to the logline pitch suggested in Save The Cat by Blake Snyder, or really most books on scriptwriting. Hell, it could even be said for writing your thesis. Always focus hard on your idea, or you logline, as it were, or the premise of your thesis. Once clearly defined, worded and outlined, it can both keep you on track and lead your project, and it may serve as a basis to get early feedback on your idea from the real world.

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#56

Post by xondono »

ALittleLight wrote: post #50
amanjaincorp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying to understand your feedback. Perhaps I'm missing something. The point of the big numbers in my post is not to look at them in absolute terms. But to look at the ratio A/B. And then apply it to a much smaller audience. Because that tells helps validate that your idea will meet your expectations (whatever they may be).

I read the comments first, and then eagerly read your post - because I hate Facebook and wanted to scorn you, but having read it I see that it's not really Facebook-centric at all, containing only a glancing reference. That said, I do think there are problems with your use of statistics and you kind of do need to consider the numbers in absolute terms. If I check my idea out with ten people I know in my target demogr…

I thought the same thing. These kind of analysis will point you towards already flooded markets (how many fitness apps there are already? My local gym has one..), when you’d be way more interested in going after markets unknown to most people.

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#57

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

When we say 'startup idea', it adds too much noise to the initial validation process as the industry(Successful Entrepreneurs, Investors) almost unanimously agree that the first step is solving the right problem[1].

So shouldn't the first step always be 'How to validate the problem you are trying to solve?'

In my early life as an entrepreneur, I've failed multiple times since I didn't understand this difference between Startup ideas vs Problems. Understanding the importance of solving the right problem i.e. the problem with enough need gap that people are willing to pay for getting it solved and of course the problem which we want ourselves to be solved played a huge role in me building successful products later on.

When I started coaching entrepreneurs a year back, I found this again to be the common theme for failure among early stage startups i.e. building something just because they can and hoping everyone needs it. It became a professional necessity for me to come up with a way to validate problems/need gap.

So, I started building needgap[1] a problem validation platform where problems are the first class citizens. Posts are created by the consumers(incl. entrepreneurs) who have a problem, want to find a solution for their problem, check if others share the same problem, how ever small the problem might be[3]. Builders can post their products in the comments if it solves that particular problem or else discuss with others to create a product to solve that problem(There are couple of products built/being built for problems from needgap).

I'm not saying I've solved the issue of validating problems, far from it. I think I now have a direction towards understanding the 'language, grammar of problems and startup ideas' which might one day result in making validation easier.

[1]http://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html

[2]https://needgap.com

[3]https://needgap.com/problems/12-identifying-letter-o-from-0-...

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#59

Post by ultrasounder »

Not sure I can add anything more to this discussion than any more that has already been said, but the real problem about validating ones idea is,” you start out with an extreme bias” towards your idea. Conversely, if you are validating an idea, you the only true and tried and tested way is to Mom test it. It’s not enough you run a statistical poll and use that to run a product development program. You have to actually talk to people. In this case, OP needs to actually talk to the people in his demographics and validate the idea that they would like to get a personalized email from his trainer with a custom plan. If not it’s all shadow dancing with no real validation. Mom test is an excellent book to drive this point home.

Re: How to validate your startup idea quickly

#60

Post by ultrasounder »

ultrasounder wrote: post #59

Not sure I can add anything more to this discussion than any more that has already been said, but the real problem about validating ones idea is,” you start out with an extreme bias” towards your idea. Conversely, if you are validating an idea, you the only true and tried and tested way is to Mom test it. It’s not enough you run a statistical poll and use that to run a product development program. You have to actuall…

Was on the phone and am not good with touch typing. But, I actually did what I mentioned above. Being stuck at home like the OP, I actually had a lot of time on hand. So, I started calling Coffee shops that had recently pivoted to Shopify model(that change is happening in a massive scale) to try and see if they would be interested in a subscription model for their coffee beans and grinds. The outcome is for a different day, but the moral is "Always try to Invalidate your idea". Your ideas are innately biased. And that's why Starting with a clearly defined pinpoint is way easier than to apply Lean Startup methodology to Your "ideas". Hope that helps. Cant recommend Ryan Fitzpatrick's Mom Test enough. Guy even has a YT channel where he expands on some of the things he talks about in his book.
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