Rapid Idea Validation - Amazon S3...Finding a Proﬁtable Business Idea: Rapid Idea Validation As you’re preparing to start your business, it goes without saying that you want to

Day 6:

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Test your assumptions.

with Ryan Robinson

Validate and create a proof of concept.

Rapid Idea Validation

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Finding a Profitable Business Idea: Rapid Idea Validation

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As you’re preparing to start your business, it goes without saying that you want to do everything in your power to make sure it becomes successful.

The best way to figure out if you’re really onto something here, is to validate your idea.

And you need to do this before you fully build out your product, service, or website. No matter how confident you are that the entire world is going to love your offering, the likelihood that you’re going to be wrong (to some degree) is very high. I’ve been wrong about business ideas many times, and it’s not until going through the process of fully testing them, that I learn whether or not they’re realistic.

Even if you’re already an expert within your field, it’s extremely difficult to sit back and estimate how successful an upcoming product or service will be, without doing the work to truly validate it first.

Taking the time to validate your idea right now, will save you from wasting precious days, weeks, months, even years. I’ve gone through the painful process of creating a product nobody wanted, and that lost me $6,537 that I really didn’t have at the time.

Be careful, though.

Don’t confuse this process of validating your business idea, as only making a half-commitment to yourself & your business. You need to put 100% of your effort into this test if you hope to create something meaningful that stands a chance of success in the marketplace.

Let’s talk about what validation is and what it isn’t.

Validation is:

A proof of concept that gives you reasonable certainty your business will have a sustainable, growing, paying audience in a matter of days or weeks, rather than wasting months or years building a final product nobody will pay for. It’s as much a way of thinking, as it is a step-by-step process.

Validation isn’t:

A guarantee of success, and it most certainly isn’t easy. It’s not as simple as putting up a waiting list and hoping people miraculously discover your offering & fork over their hard-earned money for something that doesn’t exist yet. It takes work, but will give you a foundation for future growth.

To be abundantly clear: Validating your business idea takes a lot of hard work.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to walk through the process of planning what exactly your validation test will look like and I’ll give you the steps to make it happen. Then, we’ll go over the criteria you can use to evaluate whether or not your validation test is a success or failure.

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1. Putting the Pieces Together.

First things first. Let’s compile some of the hard work you’ve already done throughout each of these lessons, and get our most critical information all onto one sheet, that we’ll be referring back to during this validation process.

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Validating Your Business Idea

The problem I’m solving is (in Day 4’s lesson):

My target customers are (in Day 4’s lesson):

The size of my niche/target market is (in Day 4’s lesson):

Now, let’s move into the process of actually validating this business.


My business is (in Day 4’s lesson):

My competitive advantages are (in Day 5’s lesson):






















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2. Telling 10 People You Know.

One of the most important foundational stages of validating your business idea (no matter how painful it may be), is getting feedback from those who are closest to you.

Find 10 people you know. Be sure it’s people who trust, respect, and listen to you. They must be people who you believe would want (or need) what you’re planning on creating (i.e. your target market).

If they love your idea, they’ll become advocates on your behalf. Their actions after you tell them about your idea, will speak louder than their words. This will plant the seeds for your first major growth engine. If they don’t love it, this is the first sign that it may be time to go back to the drawing board.

This is a conversation that should ideally happen in person (or on the phone). Email should be a last resort. Here’s a rough script you can follow to help guide the conversation in the right direction.

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Personalize as you see fit, but be sure to leave your feedback request/question very open-ended. You don’t want to close with something like, “Isn’t this a great idea?!” That’ll lead many people who care a lot about your feelings, to be less truthful in hopes that they won’t hurt your feelings.

Don’t skip this step.

This is designed to be uncomfortable. In business, you need to develop thick skin. You need to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. If you can’t build up the courage to share your ideas with the people who are closest to you, what’s going to happen when it comes time to launch to the rest of the world?

Take as much time as you need to gather feedback, it’s not worth skimping on this process.

On the next two pages, we’re going to record all 10 responses you get.

Hey,

I’ve been working on a fun project for the past few weeks that I think you’ll love. I really respect your opinion. Would you mind giving me some quick feedback on the concept?

I’ve been really frustrated with [problem you’re solving] for quite a while now. I’ve been thinking a lot about some ways to solve it… and I think I’m really onto something. I’ve been doing some research and it looks like there’s a real opportunity for [your business idea] with a focus on helping [your target market]. I’d love your super honest, objective feedback on this one.

What do you think?






















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Responses (People You Know)

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Name:

Relationship: Detailed Feedback:

Love, Hate, or So-So:


Name:



Name:



Name:



Name:
























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Responses (People You Know - Continued)

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Name:




Name:



Name:



Name:



Name:
























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3. Telling 10 People You Don’t Know.

I know, I know… this seems repetitive. It’s a lot of work. Well, it’s meant to be. Once you’ve gotten feedback from the people who are closest to you, it’s time to see if 10 people you don’t know feel the same, and if everyone else is just sugar-coating their feedback to avoid hurting your feelings.

Now, don’t mistake asking people you don’t know for asking just any random person you see in a coffee shop today. That’s not going to get you anywhere. You still need to make sure these people you don’t know, are (likely) within your target market.

Here’s how we’re going to do that:

Finding Reviewers.

If your business is centered around a product, track down a similar good (something that attempts to solve the same problem, even if it does so in a different way) on Amazon and scan for people who’ve given poor reviews on these competing products. Try and find reviews that are 2 stars, because they’re likely going to be less emotionally charged than a raging 1 star reviewer, and only consider reaching out to people who list their name (and contact information) within their review.

The types of reviews we’re targeting will look like this review for a portable speaker product:

Many Amazon reviewers in particular, list their contact email addresses on their profiles. I clicked through to Dave Clinard’s profile and I can see his email address listed right here.

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If I’m building a portable speaker product that’s in any way similar to the one he bought and had a bad experience with, he’s a phenomenal starting point for objective feedback from someone who’s clearly

going to be interested in what I’m building. My refined reach out template is on page 8.






















http://www.amazon.com

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3. Telling 10 People You Don’t Know (continued).

If your business isn’t going to be product-centric, and you’re instead working on a service or website-related idea, this step requires a little more creativity.

We’re going to turn to one of my favorite social research tools, Buzzsumo. You can sign up for a free 14 day trial from their homepage, but it’s pricy ($99/mo) after the trial expires. Get the most out of it.

Going off of my California hiking guide website example we’ve been using, I’m going to take the top competitor websites and paste in the URL of their top-ranking pages/posts that are positioned highest in Google search results for my top KWPs. Like so:

This gives me a lot of useful data on how many social shares this article has (my content will likely need to get somewhere up into that general number range, in order to compete well in Google rankings).

What’s most useful to me however, is that I can click through and “View Sharers.” This takes me to the below page, which gives me a massive list of all the people Buzzsumo has detected, that shared this article on Twitter at some point in time.

Buzzsumo does a great job of classifying results as companies and individuals. Target individuals, they’re most likely to give you feedback. Be sure to double check they aren’t closely associated with your competitor company with a quick scan of their Twitter profile, before searching for their email

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address or sending them a Direct Message on Twitter. I recommend email as a reach out medium.






















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3. Telling 10 People You Don’t Know (Cold Reach Out Template).

Regardless of what your business is, you’ll be reaching out to most of these people with a cold email unless you happen to find some local referrals or mutual connections from friends & family.

Here’s the cold email template I use to reach out and get objective feedback about new concepts. Know that many people likely won’t take the time to get back to you, so you’ll need to reach out to more than just 10 people, in order to get 10 responses.

Start with a Subject Line of, “Can I get your opinion?”

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Hey [FirstName],

I was just researching [product or service that’s related to yours] and saw that you gave it a try recently, from your review on [destination you saw their review, if applicable]. I’ve been working on something closely related that I think you might really like.

Would you be interested in checking it out and giving me some feedback when you have a moment? I’d really value your input.

No pressure whatsoever, just thought you’d genuinely be interested.

Let me know!

Thanks,

[YourName]

If you’re using the Buzzsumo method, switch your template up a bit to say something to the effect that you saw they recently shared _________________ article on Twitter, as your point of establishing relevancy at the beginning of the conversation.

With these people you don’t know, you’ll likely have to go through a little back & forth before getting to a point where they’re engaged enough to actually give you some feedback on your idea & value props.

Pro tip: Once responses begin rolling into your inbox and you’re starting these conversations, I recommend creating a label called “[YourIdea] Feedback Group 1” within your email account, so that you can keep track of everyone who gives you this early feedback on just your idea. These are the first people we’ll be coming back to once we have a Minimum Viable Product ready to share. That’s when the feedback starts to get very meaningful.. when you have something tangible to show.

On the next two pages, we’re going to record all 10 responses you get from these cold reach outs.






















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Responses (People You Don’t Know)

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Name:

Discovered Where: Detailed Feedback:



Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Discovered Where:

Discovered Where:

Discovered Where:

Discovered Where:






















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Responses (People You Don’t Know - Continued)

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Name:

Discovered Where: Detailed Feedback:



Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Name:

Detailed Feedback:


Discovered Where:

Discovered Where:

Discovered Where:

Discovered Where:






















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4. Creating a Waiting List (Online).

Before we get to building the actual proof of concept to validate your business idea, we’re going to first set up a simple waiting list to capture the contact information of the people who will soon see your proof of concept, and want to learn more.

Building a waiting list of people who are interested in your upcoming business is critical, because they’re going to be the most excited about it when you first launch.

To keep this as simple as possible (and free), we’re going to use a combination of Google Forms and Google Sheets to collect the names and email addresses of the people who view your proof of concept and are interested in seeing more once you launch.

Once you’re signed into Google (Gmail), navigate over to your Google Drive. Once in Drive, click on “New” and scroll down to “More” where you’ll find the option to create a new Google Form (left, below).

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Next, you’ll be taken to a brand new Google Form template (right, below) where you’ll be able to edit the title, and add 2 simple form fields for collecting both the first name and email address.

Pro Tip: Be sure to click on the gear icon in the top r ight (Settings) and set the form to be viewable by “Anyone”.






















https://www.google.com/forms/about/

http://www.google.com/sheets/about/

http://drive.google.com/

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4. Creating a Waiting List (Online) - Continued.

Once your Google Form waiting list is built and ready to go, you’ll see a tab appear at the top that says “Responses”. This is where you’ll toggle over to view the names and email addresses for the people who’ve signed up for you waiting list. It’ll look like this:

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Once people begin signing up for your waiting list, you’ll want to start viewing them in “Sheets” which automatically creates a Google Spreadsheet of all the respondents in your waiting list.

This format will be much easier to work with once you have a sizable number of people on your list and it comes time to send email updates to everyone. Once you create the Google Spreadsheet, it’ll look like this here:






















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5. Building a Proof of concept (Ideas & Examples).

A proof of concept can come in many different forms, depending upon the type of business you’re starting. However, it’s important to remember your goal—exactly what you’re trying to accomplish by building a proof of concept (or Minimum Viable Product) in the first place. That’ll help keep you on track with constructing the right type of test for your business concept.

Your goal is to prove with reasonable certainty, that your business will have a sustainable, growing, paying audience. Again, it’s as much a way of thinking, as it is a step-by-step process, and there’s no guarantee that if your proof of concept gets a great response, your business will be a hit too.

Proof of concept Examples

[Physical Product] If you’re starting a product-based business, there’s no way around needing at least a very rudimentary, physical representation of your product as a proof of concept.

The iStash: When starting my first product-based business, I wanted to create an iPhone look-a-like stash device (18 year old Ryan was much different than I am today). First, I needed to test the demand for a product like this and get some feedback based on an actual demo device—that’d go much further than just showing off sketch designs. It’s much more powerful to your early feedback group if you can get a rough prototype of your product built and physically into their hands. Build it yourself if possible.

So, I spent $50 and bought 10 dummy iPhone toys on eBay, cracked them open, rigged up a DIY hinge system internally so that the cover could open & close (similar enough to how my product mockups would function), and I had my proof of concept. Factoring in everything associated with building my proof of concept, it cost me no more than $100 in product and tools. Next, I sold a handful of them to friends-of-friends, to validate that at least some people would indeed pay for the product. I used the rest of my samples to go around to local smoke shops and get feedback from purchasing managers at the retail locations that’d likely be my first distribution points. I’d later need to send off these handmade samples to my manufacturing facility in China, to give them a very clear example of what I wanted built. Building these rough prototypes were absolutely necessary.

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5. Building a Proof of concept (Ideas & Examples) - Continued.

As we’ve already covered, a proof of concept for a physical product-based business is going to be much different than what you’ll need to build, in order to validate an online business.

[Digital Product/Online Business] If your business revolves around either building a digital product (online course, eBook, software tool, templates, artwork, etc.) or creating a website/blog that serves a specific need in the marketplace, you’ll need to put together a rough version of what your offering is going to be, in order to truly test the validity of it.

Launch While Working Online Course: In 2014, I began working in the online education industry. I got to see first-hand, how some of the smartest entrepreneurs were creating successful online courses that helped people bring about meaningful change in their lives. I was inspired by this, and wanted to package together the personal systems I’ve developed, lessons learned, and advice I’d previously been giving out to friends for years, into an easy-to-access online course experience—to reach a broader audience of people who wanted to start a business while keeping their day jobs.

To validate this online course idea, I put together a proof of concept in the form of an in-depth blog post that outlined all of the key topic areas my course would cover, and within the post I offered readers the opportunity to sign up for the course waiting list, to be notified when it launched. At this time, my website was brand new—I had no audience. My goal was to get 100 people to join my waiting list, in order to prove to myself that there is indeed a demand for this topic. Once the post went live, I spent about $50 on Facebook Ads to drive in some initial traffic, posted it to a bunch of online forums I’m an active member of, and it very quickly racked up 100 people on the waiting list.

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5. Building a Proof of concept (Outlining Yours).

Fill out the details below for what your proof of concept is going to be & how you’re going to build it. We’re going to start with a very clear goal in mind, so that you’re working toward a very specific measure of success with your proof of concept.

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What is the goal of your proof of concept? What do you want it to achieve? (What does success look like? Is it 100 pre-sales, 50 people on a waiting list, or something else?)

What can you create, that’ll help you achieve your proof of concept goal? (Do you need to build a handmade prototype? Create a blog post? Website? v1 of an app or tool? Explain in detail, keeping in mind it may require multiple deliverables.)

How are you going to build it? (Do you have the skills you need, in order to create your proof of concept yourself? If not, who do you know that can help? Where can you find paid or service-trading help if necessary? Get creative.)

You need to train yourself to become a master problem-solver within your business. There’s nothing that can’t be achieved, if you’re willing to be creative, change the rules & assumptions, and commit yourself to making your business happen—despite any shortcomings you feel right now. Remember, Steve Jobs never wrote a line of code as he helped build Apple. He knew how to surround himself with people who had strong complementary skill sets. In your own way, you can do this too.

Now, it’s time to pause and start building your proof of concept.

Want my opinion on your proof of concept idea? Shoot me an email at [email protected].






















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6. Driving Traffic & Getting Attention for Your Proof of concept.

It’ll take time to build your proof of concept.

Once it’s built, you’ll need to start getting feedback from people who are outside of your personal network. Aside from the good old face-to-face approach of getting your product or website in front of potential customers, there are a few very reliable methods I consistently use for driving targeted traffic to check out my proof of concepts.

Facebook Ads:

Right now (mid-2016), Facebook Ads are still one of the best ways to drive extremely targeted traffic to your website, blog posts, or landing pages and see how visitors react to your proof of concept. It’s very affordable and for $50-100, you can usually expect to get a couple hundred highly targeted visitors to your website. Check out the awesome targeting options you have at your fingertips.

Online Communities & Forums:

Targeting the right online communities and forums is arguably the best way to drive genuine discussion around your proof of concept, because it’s (in most cases) completely free. Hopefully you’re already a member of the communities and forums that are closely related to your business, but if not—be sure to join and take part in meaningful discussion before posting something about your business. Give first, and only once you’ve built a bit of a rapport over the course of weeks, should you ask for help or feedback on your business—otherwise, you’ll risk harsh immediate backlash for spamming the group.

Keep it simple. If your proof of concept is truly great, it will begin picking up a little momentum.

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7. Asking People to Buy Before You Build.

With some businesses, choosing to launch a crowdfunding campaign or accept early payments as a more reliable proof of concept, may be the best way to test if people are willing to actually pay for what you’re building.

There’s a big difference between getting someone to join your waiting list and “say” they’ll purchase your product or service once it comes out, and actually getting someone to pre-purchase your good before you’ve even built it. You’re asking them to put their money where their mouth is.

Personally, I believe that crowdfunding campaigns should be considered for businesses that either require a significant amount of funding—something that you wouldn’t be able to fund on your own—or after you’ve already validated that your business has potential and you’re looking to launch with a larger first group of customers (which is a great idea to do, if your business is the right fit).

Take the example of Koze, a lightweight, inflatable couch.

Before launching their Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, they had already built their proof of concept (they have multiple demo products in their video & on the landing page), they invested in a high-quality product video before launching their campaign, and they already had multiple successful product launches on Kickstarter. They knew what they were doing and had an existing audience beforehand.

If you’re in a position to realistically take pre-orders and have certainty that you can deliver within a clearly defined time frame (this will be difficult if you’re starting this business while working a full-time job), then it’s a great option to consider.

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madeincollege/koze-lightweight-inflatable-and-amazing-comfort-an

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How this factors into the rest of the course.What’s Next?

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Save this completed activity into your folder for this course.

You now have the framework for creating your proof of concept, the minimum viable product by which you’ll be getting more meaningful feedback on, in the weeks or months to come.

It’s now time to build. This is where the fun really begins. Get down to it.

Next up in the final lesson, we’re going to be taking a leap forward and giving you some criteria by which to evaluate which business idea is best for you—if you have multiple ideas that you’re having trouble deciding between.

Questions? Feedback?

Shoot me an email at [email protected].

I’m here to help.

Ryan























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Documents

Rapid Idea Validation - Amazon S3...Finding a Proﬁtable Business Idea: Rapid Idea Validation As you’re preparing to start your business, it goes without saying that you want to