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Validating your business idea: the “why” and “how”

BY MobileFolk

12.10.2022 | 3 mins

Finding out whether a specific target market is interested in your products and services is a process known as “market validation.” Before you invest in your product, you should always do a series of consumer interviews with individuals in your target market.

#1 Reason for startups not seeing the door is that there is no significant market need; 42% of startups fail due to this reason. That is why validating your business idea is very important irrespective of how novel the concept is. 

Finding out whether a specific target market is interested in your products and services is a process known as “market validation.” Before you invest in your product, you should always do a series of consumer interviews with individuals in your target market. 

Start writing (anything and everything). Brainstorming your ideas and how you want to implement these ideas. Cover every aspect of your business that you can think of.

Even just putting anything down pushes you to think about topics you might have previously passed over. Not writing a “business strategy”. For startups, creating a business strategy is not the best use of time because it will eventually evolve.

We are articulating about providing answers to a few crucial questions that you can put to the test. These are your presumptions, and the sooner you test them, the lower your product launch risk.

Set Goals (Hypothesis to validate):

  • Define the hypothesis you want to validate
  • Whom (ICP) will you ask that hypothesis for validation?
  • What are the acceptable KPIs for the assumptions to pass your validation test? 

Conduct secondary market research:

  • Research for the available data through the web.
  • Document data that is valuable for your idea.
  • Reference data that can validate or reject your hypothesis to save time.

Analyze Competition 

  • Identify how crowded the market is, as no one needs another innovative smartphone brand unless it is not better than apple.
  • Knock off the hypothesis which you can by researching the competition.
  • This step is key to pivoting if your assumption is not novel to the status quo. 

 User interviews/feedback collection

  • 1-on-1 interviews with a prospectus.
  • Survey through personal/professional network.
  • Landing page surveys.
  • Sign-up campaigns.
  • Pre-sale campaigns.

All the touch points which can trigger an interest in your product are an inch closer to validating the need. 

Evaluate the data you collected through the last step and decide the result of your validation test. 

Critical Q&A for every founder. 

  • Do I have a business plan to enable my startup to generate a profit?
  • Has anyone else implemented your idea?
  • Can you provide your target clients with something unique that adds value and addresses a problem?
  • Perhaps you shouldn’t pursue your idea further if there are too many contenders but no opportunities.

Although it’s excellent if your idea is original, you have to validate it nonetheless. You will still have to get out of the door, as endless effort is the constant theme of our existence! ROFL.

It would be best if you are confident that your business concept would be successful and appeal to your target market, as you are the best judge of your startup. If unsatisfied, you can brainstorm more; here are some well-known business models. 

  • Subscription Business Model.
  • Freemium Business Model.
  • Open Source Business Model.
  • Consulting Business Model.
  • Distributor Business Model.
  • Aggregator Business Model.
  • Conceptual Business Model.
  • Razor and Blade Business Model

We are happy to help you explore your business ideas and help you with your market research as well! Shoot us a private message to get started!