

Ask HN: Validating your idea - jimisir

Just curios at the ways by which people looking to do a startup validate their initial ideas. "talking to friends", "google ads"?...
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rpicard
Have you read this article? [http://startupbound.com/how-i-quickly-test-and-
validate-star...](http://startupbound.com/how-i-quickly-test-and-validate-
startup-ideas/)

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jimisir
i think this is a pretty interesting way of validating but it involves
spending some money which most people might not have. I was thinking more
about the "out of the shower" aha moments where you really just want to get
instant fly-or-die feedback...is it valuable to just go ahead a build an MVP
or really try and talk to people about it to see if theres a need (although
talk is really cheap, hence the need for an MVP)

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rpicard
From what I've read in blogs and The Lean Startup talking to the people you
expect to use your product is the way to go. If you're selling an application
for teachers aren't the teachers the people who will know if they'd use it (to
an extent)?

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caw
Absolutely. The first thing you want to do is ask someone in the domain about
the problem. Is it really a problem or is this a solution without a problem?
At that point you can start figuring out how you're going to solve this
problem, and doing your design and iteration.

If you end up with an idea first (because you always find ideas in the shower
and very rarely problems), try to take a step back and figure out what the
problem is that your idea is going to solve. From there you can do your
iteration.

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jimisir
really great feedback thanks. I'm just thinking of a quick way to get that
idea to a diverse group of teachers ( for example ) and get feedback in real
time as opposed to just the ones I know who are likely to just say "yeah we'd
use it" so they can make me happy.

I was thinking of creating a service where you can blast out an idea. If
enough people signup and maybe categorize themselves, you can possibly get
valuable feedback on whatever idea you just had. What do you think?

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rpicard
In theory it sounds nice but in practice people may be hesitant to make their
idea public to X number of strangers whom they've never met. You'd also need
to find a wide range of domain experts to participate. What is their
motivation?

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mapster
LinkedIn could be used to facilitate this feedback loop.

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jimisir
hey! I'm curious as to how linkedin can be used...care to explain a little bit
:)

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caw
My guess is that you'd find a connection that works your particular area to
validate the problem. If it's a first level connection that's great, easier to
ask :). Otherwise, find a second level connection and get introduced to them.
Say that you'd like to discuss some of the problems that they may experience
[as a teacher, entrepreneur, etc]. People love to talk about their problems to
someone who will listen.

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mapster
Yes, exactly caw - thanks. I view LinkedIn as one huge convention center, and
the worst that can happen is people decline you connection request. If you
present an honest and positive tone, people will be more receptive. Then it is
possible to PM select connections to review your idea or beta, etc.

