June 24, 2020
Everyone gets a good idea sometime or another. What's pivotal in the success of the idea is obtaining a single level of validation
Are you feeling frustrated?
A bit directionless?
Unsure of how to go about your idea?
It's normal to experience confusion and doubt, but regardless of what you're feeling, the second step in moving forward is very simple.
Utilizing the people around you.
You need an outside perspective to validate or disprove your idea.
How do you do this?
You start by developing a pitch.
To put it simply, a pitch is a short presentation of your idea(s). You’re really trying to sell what it is you're developing and trying to draw in whoever it is you're presenting to.
There are two different ways you can approach a pitch.
The Elevator Pitch:
Imagine you are in an elevator with an investor, what would you say?
Be concise and keep it under 30 seconds
And
A One-Liner:
This is using known brands/ businesses as a point of reference
Example: "This is Uber for hair!"
Follows a "this is XX for YY" formula
This is where your creativity should shine. Highlight the best things about your idea and why you think someone would want it!
Once you have done this and developed your pitch, it's time to evaluate it.
At this point in your plan, you need feedback. As the creator, you can’t accurately determine what it is that you might be lacking or the faults in your idea. This step is crucial in weeding out all the things that are hindering you.
So, how do we get this feedback?
Well, we create a group of friendlies.
"Friendlies" refers to individuals who are willing to provide you feedback. Think of family, friends, mentors, professors, etc.
When approaching friendlies, be sure to:
Pitch your idea
Note suggestions
Start learning
Are there any recurring questions?
What critiques do they have?
How should you position your idea?
Keep track of your responses
Gather data on your product.
Do people understand the scope of your project?
Who are your users?
Who is using the product?
Why do they need it?
What use could they get out of it?
Your ONLY goal in this stage is to get feedback. You can ask anyone. By pitching to your immediate circle, you have the opportunity to refine your idea again and again until its foul proof.
As you're going through this stage of refining your pitch and getting feedback, establish who your potential customers are.
What I mean by this is taking note of all the people who said “yes”. 'Yes' as in they would use your product or require something along those lines.
Once you get a bunch of “yes’” you want to build a profile of what your (potential) customers look like.
If you’re building a profile of the everyday person, you want to start taking a look at their demographic data.
Examples include:
-Income Bracket
-Ethnicity
-Age
-Gender
-Socio-Economic Status
-Where They Live
If you’re catering to businesses, some of the information you want to look out for is;
-Size of the Company
-Headcount of their employees
-Revenue
-Industry
-Ex: Agriculture, Entertainment, Construction, etc.
-Departments That Will Benefit
-Ex: HR, Marketing, Finance, etc.
-Job Titles (of who’s signing off on your idea)
Building up these profiles helps you get an understanding of who your audience is, making it easier for when you target future clients. You also learn more about your product/ idea by knowing who benefits from it the most.
At this point, you want to start reaching out to the people in your potential target audience. There are a variety of ways you can do this. Asking strangers in your city what they think of your product. Putting an ad on the internet pitching your idea. You want to move outside of your friendlies group to get more accurate feedback.
To review the things we have accomplished so far, we have:
Formulated your idea
Developed a pitch
Found feedback
Now, let's move on.
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