Validating Startup Ideas

Warikoo’s Test

Link

1. Balti Test
   1. How will this fail?
   2. Why are you the right person?
   3. Why won’t the competition win?
2. Run the biz before you have a biz
   1. Name the idea
   2. Define what the idea does and what it solves
      1. What the idea does is the function of the idea (Zoom allows video meetings)
      2. What it solves is the purpose of the idea (Zooms allows people to connect remotely)
   3. Test it online

Hiten’s Test

Link

1. Create a problem hypothesis from your idea
   1. [Group of people] have a problem [their problem]
2. Set up a system to pull people to you
   1. Landing page -> Survey
      1. Market Intelligence: What are you up against? What are people currently using? The answer can inform future customer acquisiton tactics as well as potential integrations and partnerships.
      2. Qualifiers: Helps you filter people to better target the ones you should follow-up with and segment responses to other questions.
      3. Discovery: People will tell you things if you ask them. Read every response and categorize each of your open-ended responses into buckets. With open-ended questions you’ll also discover the words people use. These responses are useful when you need to write marketing copy and iterate or test your landing page.
3. Find the pattern of pain
   1. You need to find out if people really do have the problem you think they have or if they don’t care at all. When trying to validate your idea the main goal is to find the pattern of pain across your target customers.
   2. Jobs-To-Be-Done¹
      1. The basic idea behind jobs-to-be-done is simple: customers are hiring your product out to do a job for them.

         When I ______ , I want to ______, so I can ______.

¹ From a feature perspective, Crazy Egg gives you heat maps that show you where visitors are clicking on your website. But from a jobs-to-be-done perspective,

Crazy Egg helps you redesign with confidence.

KISSmetrics is an analytics tool that shows you how people are using your app. From a jobs-to-be-done perspective,

KISSmetrics helps you:
1. Check up on the health of your product and company at a glance.
2. Look up what works and what’s causing problems in your app for building product and adjusting flows.
3. Discover the users who’ve completed a set of actions in your app for tailored outreach.
4. Monitor events in real-time to make sure analytics are set up correctly.
5. Dive deep into the data to make a critical business decision.

Patel’s Test

Link

1. What problem are you solving?
2. How have others attempted to solve this problem before, and why did their solutions succeed or fail?
3. How many specific benefits for your product or idea can you list?
4. Can you state, in clear language, the key features of your product or service?
5. Does your idea already exist in the same way you were going to create it?
6. Who are your potential competitors?
7. What key features does my product or service have that others will have a hard time copying?
8. Have you done a SWOT analysis?
9. Do you have access to the various resources you need to launch a business?
10. Do you have a mentor or industry advisor that you can call on?
11. Can you name somebody who would benefit from your product or service?
12. What is the size of the market that will buy your product or service?
13. Have you reached out to potential customers for feedback?
14. Can you set up a landing page and encourage interested people to sign up for more information?
15. What would it take to build a minimum viable product to test the market?
16. Can you get paying customers from your target market to pre-order based on a blueprint or mockup?
17. Can you produce the actual product yourself, or do you have a partner who can?
18. Do you have distributors or partners to help you scale your business?
19. What will it take to break even or make a profit?
20. How can investors in your idea make a profit?