Of course, you have a business idea why else would you be reading this article? I believe you are likely most of the aspiring entrepreneurs who faced several problems your their “ah-ha” moment. As time passes by, your idea lingers and keeps on sticking notes in your journal until the enthusiasm passes. And then you see your idea in the iTunes App Store or on the shelf at a local retail store. Product design companies recommended you to work on the idea without delay.
More often, ideas stall because it is pretty hard to get to the market. Let’s put this simple, the process of giving your thoughts a life sounds overwhelming. On the other hand, if you validate your idea and provide it, the process after that gets much more straightforward.
I am going to take you through the five major things that are critical to validate your idea before you can launch your next big business.
Do the research
Whenever I hear back anyone has the next big business idea, the moment I take my iPhone and look for it, I often find an existing service or product by just doing a little research on YouTube or Google. Before you finalize your business idea, do a thorough search to see if it already prevails in the market. It will save you time and money.
Do not give up on your idea hastily even it exists. See if you can make any improvements to the current model. Ask yourself if you can offer value to the start-up already producing it. Can you make the idea better? If the answer is yes, then there is still a huge room available, and you can move to the next step. Get curious and dive deeper about what you want to do and how you want your business idea to grow.
Product design companies encourage individuals to ask the following questions:
- What is your passion?
- What skills do you have?
- What is it that gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning?
- What is that keeps you awake?
- How much budget do you have?
- Do you have support from your friends and family?
- What kind of lifestyle do you want to live in?
Seek feedback
It is one of the critical steps to validate your idea. Talk to the people about your idea whom you trust. At this stage, you need brutally honest feedback. Most of the entrepreneurs have a greater tendency to get stuck to the original idea, and they are hellbent to it regardless of what others say. It is a good time to reassess if you are the only person who thinks it is a great idea. Find mentors who can help you invaluable insight. Mentors provide experience and context. They will share their experiences regarding strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats regarding your idea and let you know if you are moving ahead in the direction or if you are on the wrong path.
Build an MVP
If you have enough support from the mentors so far, then congratulations, it’s time to develop MVP to determine if your target market is going to use your product. Look at the resources and how much budget do you have to build an MVP. Look to crowdsourcing to find the assistance you require, talk to the product design companies who can give you a pathway. Once the MVP is ready to use, then ask your friends to test it. If your friends and family do not like the idea, then scrap it.
Start building your identity
In case your testing goes well, it’s time to start building your brand around your initial idea. By now, you might feel that you have a winning idea. Do not linger behind because your validate idea may be knocked off tomorrow in today’s innovating and fast-moving business environment.
At some point, you might feel someone will steal your idea, which is an entirely valid concern. However, you should go on the assumption that if someone takes it or develops a better and newer iteration eventually. In any case, the key to success will be first to the market.
You should patent your idea, although it is an expensive process, it will protect your idea. In case you have enough resources, hire an attorney, and pursue the required protection. You do not have enough resources, then focus on building your brand.
Purchase a domain by choosing a great name, hire a web designer to get a user-friendly website done. Start with a business landing page, and then you can do the business branding. The next step is to secure your business name on each social media platform. Even if you do not want to do social media branding,
Hash a customer acquisition plan
It is advisable to focus on two questions two areas before you dive into lengthy business plans
“How do I get my first customer?” And, “How do I get my nth customer? You might have put tens of hours to craft the best business plan, but if you do not know how to acquire your first customers, it becomes useless.
Understand what a customer’s need is, and it will be easier for you to build a business. Always keep in mind, it is far easier to build a business around customer demand to create a demand around your business.