

How to evaluate and implement startup ideas using Hypothesis Driven Development - bensummers
http://swombat.com/2011/1/7/how-to-evaluate-and-implement-startup-ideas-using-hypothesis-driven-development

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sebg
A fourth question that came up for me was "Will I enjoy doing it if it is a
success?" I only focused on this aspect after I asked the question can I make
money from it and realized that it was not something I wanted to sustain in
the long run.

Once the will I enjoy it question is answered, then Swombat's three questions
are definitely the way to go.

~~~
swombat
That's definitely important for some people. As I said, the exact questions
are unique per person/idea combination. What you prioritise first will depend
on your skills, your concerns and fears, your past experiences, etc.

For example, if you got burned by building something great that no one
actually used, "Can I find users?" will be pretty high up the list.

This is not a method for avoiding all mistakes - it won't save you from all
your blind spots. But it gives you a better chance of leveraging your
experience and getting somewhere.

I'll write another article at some point about how to generate those
questions.

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sebg
Looking forward to reading your article on how the questions are generated and
what else goes forward. I have been thinking about this quite a bit after
doing a failed startup, working at a startup with funds, and pursuing a
startup currently. Thanks for the great blog post.

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skmurphy
Some hypotheses missing from Daniel's list:

    
    
       o customer problem or need
       o symptoms that indicate customer problem or need
       o description of benefits that customer will understand
       o features to support benefits / solution customer will accept
    

See also Ben Yoskovitz's "Useless Feedback" at
<http://www.instigatorblog.com/useless-feedback/2010/06/14/> which begins:

    
    
       Asking a friend, "What do you think of my idea?" is almost completely useless.
       Asking a friend (or someone else who isn’t as biased as your friend, 
       "Do you have this problem, and how painful is it?" is a much more useful query.

~~~
tapiwa
Another useful method of opinion getting I have found to be useful, is to
directly beg/ask for criticism.

"Please tell me all the bad things you can think about this idea." "Please
tell me all the reasons you think this idea will not gain traction and will
fail" "Please tell em why quitting my job to pursue this idea is a bad thing"

Questions that openly invite criticism are useful, since I think people think
more imaginatively when they are being critical ... there are only so many
ways to say nice things about something, but the insults can come from
anywhere.

More than just finding fault with the idea, you will find assumptions you had
implicitly made being challenged. So even if the idea is good, it might still
be a bad idea to pursue it, lest you end up with a "the operation was a
success, but the patient died" scenario.

If you have a cofounder, take it in turns, over two days, to defend/attack the
idea. Defend your idea like Fort Knox on day one, and then attack it like it
owes you money on day two.

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agbell
The ACH method would be useful in conjunction with this:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_of_Competing_Hypothese...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis_of_Competing_Hypotheses)
(once you gather data to back your hypothesis)

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DanielRibeiro
Seems very much like the practices of customer development part of Lean
startups. But leaner.

~~~
swombat
Thanks, I'll take that as a compliment!

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richcollins
He missed to most important way to start testing your hypotheses: go talk to
customers

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swombat
I wasn't listing out ways to resolve the hypotheses, just a method for using
hypotheses to drive the startup. Talking to potential customers is obviously
an essential step in resolving questions like "what features are people
willing to pay for?" or "will people be willing to pay anything for this?"

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HeyLaughingBoy
_Even better is to aim not for something you can get people to use, but
instead try to build something you can charge for immediately_

I don't get this. If no one can use it, what are they paying for?

~~~
swombat
Convincing people to pay for something generally entails providing them with
something they can use, or at least with the pledge of something they can use.

One common way to go about this is to create a paper prototype, pitch it to
potential clients, get them to sign a non-binding letter of intent to buy the
product if you develop it as per the specs, and _then_ develop the product and
sell it to those people who already told you they'd buy it.

This is as contrasted with the somewhat more common, but often less successful
approach of building something useful to a bunch of users, letting them use it
for free while you develop the offering, and then asking them to pay.

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joakin
This gives a fresh perspective on the matter. Never thought about evaluating
questions this way. Ill give it a try !

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zemanel
splitting a project in small steps and moving from step to step based on
results analysis is something i've suggested even for contracting web projects

