
How To Validate Product Ideas Before (And After) Building Them - austengary
https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/validating_product_ideas
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summerlunch
This is good stuff. Most people know by now that they should "solve business
problems" in order to create a decently successful product/service. But most
beginning entrepreneurs are struggling to find out exactly what those
"business problems" are.

I think the issue for most young entrepreneurs is that we don't have much
business-related domain knowledge. Most teens and young adults have domain
knowledge related to recreational activities such as skateboarding or playing
guitar, but no business knowledge whatsoever.

Maybe we should encourage younger people to participate in business at a
younger age so that we can use their fresh creativity towards coming up with
new solutions.

~~~
purplelobster
I'm starting to wonder if I'm completely doomed selling to consumers.
Consumers seems so fickle, they won't pay for anything software related it
seems, even if it helps them a lot. Like they'll put down hundreds of dollars
for a language class, but they'll sweat over a $5 app that would help their
learning in said class.

Here's an example of a common attitude. Some guy launching his app on reddit
(not me):

"Just use this: [https://ankiweb.net](https://ankiweb.net)

It is free and is better than OP's crap app.

you want money for your crap = keep you shit. i dont need it."

~~~
zavulon
The only reason selling to businesses is better, is that by buying your
product, businesses will make more money - that's why they don't have a
problem forking over $X, since it will help them make $X*Y, resulting in a net
$ gain.

If you find a similar niche for consumers - i.e. sell something to consumers
that will help them make more money they will pay for it. Alternatively, if it
will help them get laid more, they will pay for it as well. If your consumer
oriented software does anything else other than helping users make more money
/ get more/better sex, then your consumers will definitely be fickle.

~~~
purplelobster
Or perhaps something that can clearly save them money?

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gfodor
I enjoy patio11's articles immensely but I wish it would be made more clear
that this is _one_ of several paths to building a successful software
enterprise. Going in and automating stuff people have been using Excel for is
a straightforward way to build software people will be willing to pay for,
yes.

But let's not forget the unique privilege we have of living in 2013 where
we're just starting to get desktop-class CPU and GPUs with radios in
everyone's pockets. Let's not forget that the things computers are capable of
now were barely visible even a decade ago and a dream a decade further. I
firmly believe in using computers to solve real problems. But I also think
that you need to look at the problems you're solving and think about how you
can truly leverage the unique capabilities we have now to build transformative
things.

~~~
sejje
I don't disagree, but that's hardly a roadmap, or teachable.

Patio11 is trying to give people something actionable, I think.

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agibsonccc
Aside from starting on and solving business problems, I think it's hard to
tell where to start.

I think it might be worth adding that aside from the cliche "solve your own
problems" that you'd typically get. One possible approach might be to look at
technical problems you're interested in solving and figuring out where tech
like that is used and working your way down to the business case like that.
This of course applies to the programmer out there. For non technical, it
might be worth mentioning starting from hobbies you enjoy and blogging about
those. From that you might be able to explore and ask different kinds of
questions that people might have.

Your best business idea will probably come by accident.

It may not be an optimal approach, but it definitely got me started.

------
joeblau
One thing missing from this is to run surveys. Someone posted on here before
about how they used Google Consumer Surveys [1] to check the pulse of their
idea. It's something I highly recommend that can be done for relatively cheap
before you even get started.

[1] -
[http://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/](http://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/)

------
lifeisstillgood
I have given up on worrying myself if my products are good enough or have
market fit. the biggest problem / reason why customers are not paying me is
not I have not got market fit wrong but I am scared - of failing or succeeding
or...

so - 12 startups in 12 months - quickly learn and quickly

~~~
aagha
Wait. What? You've started 12 startups in 12 months? Basically meaning that
you've done one startup project a month?

~~~
lifeisstillgood
no - will do.

basically we seem to be entering a world where one person can launch a small
profitable online business that takes minimal support. if so what needs to be
templated / automated and what really is irreducible

it's worth a go. if I find out different I find out different.

------
aznjons
This is great advice and it is fantastic because it is specific and
actionable.

I would love to see one tailored for validating consumer products rather than
B2B ones.

A good amount of this is definitely applicable to validating for consumers
though.

I especially like the section recommending that a product and the problem it
solves be described fully in text before any code is written.

~~~
purplelobster
Agree, so much of the advice on HN is for B2B. I get that the success rate for
B2B is higher, but some B2C advice would be very welcome.

------
md2be
Creating products that solve problems is great but you will not be in the
"blue ocean". Did twitter solve a problem? No. Apple? Nike? Coke? Nope. They
created great products that turned into a problem if you didn't own them.

------
adrianhoward
Nice piece. I cannot over emphasise how _amazingly_ effective actually getting
off your butt and finding/talking to potential customers is.

A few random additional thoughts / tips.

1) If I'd have been in Patrick's shoes I'd have gone out a little earlier and
start talked to folk with more open ended questions - before even building the
2 page demo. Things like "Can you just talk me through your typical day?" or
"Tell me about a bad day?".

Why? If the problem you care about _is_ important to those people - if it's
problem #1 or #2 - it will come up in conversation naturally. If it _doesn 't_
then that is telling you something useful and interesting.

If you start the conversation by talking about appointments that is where it
will go. Once you start talking about it with them it naturally becomes the
focus of the conversation and any issues and problems will pop up and seem
important - even if they would normally not care about them in the slightest.

More importantly - because the conversation is just around appointments - you
won't here about the _other_ major problems in their life. Maybe the biggest
issue is dealing with staff who don't show up, or managing the shift rota, or
keeping track of client preferences, or whatever.

And then you can dive in with something like "Can you tell me more about
that?" and discover this lovely problem that the customer actually cares
about.

2) On the "talk to people in the target industry" another sneaky way to find
folk is to see if you can find a $industry conference you can get to. You get
a target-rich environment for $industry and they're often a bit more informal
and happy to talk (or drunk - which also works ;-).

If you don't feel you can attend/crash the conference itself then find out
what the conference hotel(s) is/are and hang out in the lobby. Or find out
what the popular post-conference bars are and hang out there.

(This is, of course, an instance of the more general advice of "hang out where
your customers hang out".)

3) If it's more than just you I'd recommend talking to folk in pairs. Most
people find it really hard to both engage in a conversation and take notes at
the same time. Having one person do most of the talking, and somebody else do
most of the writing makes it much easier to capture the information. Having
mixed-sex pairs also helps in approaching strangers too.

4) Dress _slightly_ smarter than the default for wherever you're doing the
interviews. It makes a real difference in how you're treated.

If the idea of doing interviews still scares you and you'd like some concrete
advise on technique I'd consider reading this really short pocket guide from
Andrew Travers [http://www.fivesimplesteps.com/products/interviewing-for-
res...](http://www.fivesimplesteps.com/products/interviewing-for-research).
It's not written for budding startup/entrepreneur folk but much of the advice
is applicable. Bonus is that it's very short.

If you you like that book and want to dive deeper Steve Portigal's
"Interviewing Users" ([http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-
users/](http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-users/)) is a great book
that covers everything in much more detail. Again - not written for startup
folk but there's a lot of great advice you can steal.

------
bliti
Patrick,

How did you transition from that first AR client to the next? Did you simply
close them on the spot?

