
A simple way to validate your startup idea - dieulot
http://justinjackson.ca/validate-your-startup-idea/
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Mister_Snuggles
From jwz[1], here's a similar take:

> If you want to do something that's going to change the world, build software
> that people want to use instead of software that managers want to buy.

[1]
[http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html](http://www.jwz.org/doc/groupware.html)

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general_failure
And then we had lotus, outlook, meeting maker

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czep
Vapid. Is anyone else sick of his recycling of obvious memes in 200 words or
less with xxlarge fonts and all too generous padding? This is the 3rd or 4th
time I've seen this dude's blog on HN. I suppose an army of shills is the
first lesson in marketing.

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svantana
That this advice even needs to be said is telling of the startup culture.
There seems to be alot of people attracted by the allure of billion dollar
exits, or whatever motivates people to build stuff for "other people".

Personally, I only build things that I want myself. Being my own Customer Zero
is really fun & rewarding, and even if the product doesn't sell, it wasn't a
complete waste, because at least I got the product I wanted.

~~~
unclebucknasty
Yeah, and specifically a lot of businesses were born when the founders of a
first business faced trouble in a certain area. They reasoned that if it was
so hard for them to do X, then the same must be true for others, and so
launched a separate company to help others solve x.

Of course, care must be taken that using one's self as a reference customer is
not being too myopic. But I suppose that's where the advice in the article
could still be useful--that is, in vetting the idea.

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elobrien
If you don't come up with those five names, seems like it might be time to
focus on an idea that solves a problem you or someone you are close with is
passionate about. Such a huge advantage to be working on something that
inspires you, and makes coming up with other people sharing the same pain an
easy task.

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sheetjs
Why not directly test who will pay for your product/service by pre-selling?

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girasquid
Who are you pre-selling to? You still need those first five.

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himynamesdom
In all honesty, making something that can solve your own problems might be the
most effective validation you need. Chances are there's others like you out
there. And they're probably closer than you think.

Just a thought.

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ppymou
I like the idea.

But I also believe that solving personal problem is a good place to start.
After all, if one person has a problem, it is likely that there are at least 5
other person who shares the pain.

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mkumm
Finding 5 people to buy your product/service does not validate your idea; but
if you can't find 5, then you can save yourself some time and money.

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acangiano
In my technical blogging book, which is very similar in intent to Justin's
upcoming book, I wrote the following which might be helpful to someone here
interested in the concept of tailoring personas.

>> MEET LAURA <<

Before you tailor content to your customers and answer their needs with your
expert voice, you must first understand who your prospective customers really
are.

Most marketers will tell you to think in terms of demographics. Your customers
are in such and such an age group, are of this gender, and earn within a given
salary range. All that info may be useful to know, but it’s not the way to
penetrate the minds of your customers.

To really feel empathy and understand what your customers want, what confuses
them, and what inspires them, you need to get personal. You can’t put yourself
into the shoes of a whole demographic, but is possible to imagine one typical
prospective customer and get to know that person better.

Let’s say that your company sells educational iPad applications that are
designed for young children. Who is your prospective customer? Well, let’s
see. She is a mom; let’s call her Laura. How old is she? Let’s say 33. OK, how
many children does Laura have? Probably two. What ages? Hmm, a three-year-old
daughter and a five-year-old son. What’s her profession? She used to be an
accountant, but now she does bookkeeping for small businesses from home so
that she can spend more time raising her kids.

You get the idea. You can use this thought process to create a detailed
profile of a possible customer and ask yourself questions in your head to get
to know your target users better. Now assume that Laura doesn’t know about
your iPad applications and you want to reach her through your blog.

Will Laura find you when researching Objective-C vs. JavaScript-based mobile
apps? Well, based on Laura’s profession, that’s very unlikely. What does
Laura, a concerned parent who wants the best for her children, care about?
What worries Laura? What is Laura’s main objective? What’s her problem in
relation to the solution that you have to offer?

It’s easier now to understand your customer because you can imagine how this
person would react to what you write. You can also better assess what kind of
questions your customer has and answer them. If you are an iPad developer, you
may take many of your customers’ questions for granted.

What is obvious to you may not be to Laura. When you think about Laura, you
can come up with all sort of questions that your posts should answer:

• Are iPads safe for young children to use?

• Is the iPad a good educational tool for children ages three to six?

• Can you use a pen to write on the iPad screen?

• What are some clever ways to use mobile devices to encourage children to
learn?

• Are there fun iPad games aimed at young children?

• Is an iPad or an Android tablet better for educational purposes?

• Should parents buy their children an iPad?

• What can children learn through the iPad?

• What are the best iPad apps for young kids to use?

• Should children spend their time on the iPad?

• How do I teach mathematics to preschool kids?

• What software can teach young children how to read?

• Is software beneficial for the development of your child’s brain?

• How can you assess and improve your child’s IQ?

• How can you prepare your children for elementary school?

• How can parents and children use the iPad together to learn and bond?

• What’s the difference between the iPad Wi-Fi and the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G?

These are just a few random examples of questions your posts could answer.
Notice that some of these questions aren’t even iPad specific. Laura is
interested in her kids’ education first and the iPad is just a tool that can
help her with that goal. Talk about the iPad by all means, but focus on what
the customer really wants to know.

Though this exercise may appear silly, you really need to connect with your
customers at this depth in order to help them find your blog and, in turn,
your products. Put yourself into their shoes, and if you have access to early
customers, listen to what they tell you so as to better gauge what you can do
to address their questions.

~~~
chaz
This is known as customer personas, and is a hugely valuable tool for figuring
out how your product is going to meet the needs of various customers in
different situations. It can help sketch out their needs, concerns, pricing,
risks, etc. It can also help you prioritize feedback and suggest ways to
market to them, including anticipating their concerns and what to say to
address them.

You can also propose new ideas and use your personas to help understand how
each person would react to them. How many of your cust personas would use your
new proposed feature? Is there a persona that would actually dislike your
change? How do would you address their concerns?

Equally important is to build out the personas that are not your customers.
They may have a lower price, higher support/acq costs, or features you
can't/won't build. Some customers can be active detractors, distract you from
your real customers, and may never be completely pleased with what you do. ID
these customers fast, find a way to deal with them (even suggest a
competitor), and move on.

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nathanwdavis
I do wonder if this is a valid technique if your sales target is businesses,
not individual consumers. Perhaps some variant?

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bobowzki
Wood table, leica, moleskine, MacBook, earbuds...

