How startups can validate their product ideas

Sipping coffee and you have an ingenious idea for your startup. Hola! You rush for pen/paper to write it down. Your idea is going to change lives and make a big impact. Its time to assemble team, discuss with investors. But Stop! Stop right there!

Validate the Idea first!

Before plunging with execution, you should be sure that you have target audience and they are ready to pay for it. Don’t test the specifics and get into finer details of your new venture yet. You need to validate the big picture first.

Following is a broad framework to start validating your business Idea:

Who is already doing it?

Who are your competitors? How large is the market? Are you differentiated enough? Google will answers all those questions for you. When you take time to research, you avoid making costly mistakes.

What Problem am I solving?

Will my business idea solve the problem? Every business is built on a certain problem. To succeed in any business you need to help real people solve real and meaningful problems. You need to be clear about the problem that your target audience is facing and you aim at solving them. Ask yourself few questions : Who are my target customer? How are these customers solving their problem? Are there any alternatives? How they rank their problems? Will my idea solve their problem?

Share your Idea

Don’t feel insecure in seeking advise from other Entrepreneurs. Most people validate their business idea by asking their friends & family. However, they may not give well-informed or genuine answer. Its better to find a seasoned entrepreneur who has experience in building businesses while seeking advice. Many entrepreneurs have build more than one business, and being well networked makes them good resource for idea validation.

Talk to your intended Customer

Surprisingly, talking to potential customers about your new business idea is the step skipped by most entrepreneurs. When you discuss your idea with your potential customers, you’re trying to validate your key assumptions. How do they solve their problem? Do they actually have the problem you assume? Do they like your idea? Do they agree with the solution you provide for their problem? You may get valuable insight from your customers which help you to tweak your definition of your business idea, customer problems, their solution and even your competition.

How will you Acquire Customer?

You should try to determine how you’ll acquire customers, while validating your business idea. Will you run Facebook Ads or search engine optimization? What platforms most of your target customer’s are hooked on to? Are customers active in those communities? How will you connect with your audience? You need to have an effective plan to move forward with your business idea. If you are not sure where to start with marketing, it might not be the best product to sell.

Start writing in Blogs & Online Communities

Write Posts on popular blogs to get feedback of your business idea. Getting enough response on your post will give you more conviction and help you started with your business idea sooner.

Do not rush. Don’t build it. Sell it first

Create social media pages like Facebook or Instagram to display your product or services and to grow your audience. Add the price you wish to sell your product at. This helps to validate price they’ll pay for what you are selling. Use attractive pictures, hashtags or videos about your product to grow your following in the beginning. Customer may show interest in your product, then you are on track of your idea validation.

How can coworking space and shared office providers help?

Oqtagon Coworking space in Noida is for all aspiring entrepreneurs who are looking for a potential business idea or would like to validate the one they have. Meetups & workshop session for Interaction with founders, mentors and other entrepreneurs are organised in our coworking space.

So get in touch with us today to see how Oqtagon coworking space in Noida can help your startup venture fly with much more than a bouquet of office solutions, shared office desk space or coworking space.

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About the author

Geeta Gupta is founder of Oqtagon and a serial entrepreneur. She is a technocrat who has co-founded other businesses in fintech, agritech area and has helped other product development and startup companies in healthcare, hospitality, hotel, travel and aviation, financial services domain and many more.

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