Do you often have great ideas for a startup business, but then second-guess them? Being an entrepreneur, it is quite common to experience self-doubt, especially when you are just starting out. So how would you really figure out if your idea is worth the risk? What are ways in which you can validate your great business ideas? Here 10 tips to to get you started:
1. Research
Whenever beginning anything, especially a startup, make sure that you do your research well. Researching will certainly turn out to be one of your best friends. Consider various facets of your business, from your competitors to the requirements of the market. If you cannot handle this on your own, then consider hiring an agency that specializes in research.
2. Talk to Peers
Keeping your idea a best-kept secret could turn out to be poisonous to your startup. Perhaps it is essential to measure whether your ideas are realistic or merely a soon-to-burst bubble. Here, conveying your ideas to peers would be of great benefit to you. It can provide you with different perceptions and insights that enhance your original ideas.
3. Perform Random Questioning
Once you talk to your peers and gauge their input do not stop there. It is suggested to strike up conversations with random strangers assuming them to be your target audience, then convey your ideas to them. Communicating your ideas to strangers from a plethora of backgrounds definitely gives you a broader perspective and figuratively view your ideas from a 360-degree angle.
4. Study Your Market
Do not sit in your cubicle and cook the ideas, instead get yourself right in the market and study it. Enlarge your network and attempt to analyze the demand of the market. Check to see if your idea is already executed and also check the scopes of improvisation of your idea. It is integral to scrutinize your idea meticulously.
5. Assess the Problem
Always account for the problem that your startup is going to solve. If you examine that there is no problem that your startup idea is going to solve then you probably want to rethink your direction. Any startup gains momentum when it is capable enough to solve one or more problems.
6. Test it
If you have invested your energy and time into the development of a particular idea, try testing it on a small group. Perhaps you can create a website and analyze the traffic generation alongside the feedback. This would act like a pilot survey with critical feedback that is essential for any business.
7. Supply and Demand
It is important for you to understand if the solution your startup addresses is really in demand or not. Perhaps your idea sounds brilliant but is it really the solution that is in demand? Or are there already existing alternatives? Think about it in detail. If the demand is low and you can’t even create it then there is no point in going ahead with the idea.
8. Investment
No startup can flourish without investing capital in it. Evaluating your idea based on the investment required is also vital in many senses. Once you decide the amount required to invest in things like land and workforce, you need to calculate the return on investment as well. Your startup idea is worth your resources only if you can find the return on investment exceeding the amount that you have invested.
9. Be Futuristic in Your Approach
Perhaps presently your idea looks brilliant and workable but what about five years from now? When it comes to creating an organization, your views and perceptions are required to be futuristic. Make long-term plans, not just short-term ones. One of the best examples to think of here could be the evolution of e-commerce, dating applications, online booking applications, and so on.
10. Right Place and Right Time
Your idea is absolutely useless if it fails to strike at the right place and right time. The right place and time play a crucial role when it comes to the success of the idea. Perhaps your idea is great and worth a million dollars, but if it is launched and targeted to the customer at the wrong time, then the chances of it being a sensational hit are almost negligible.
Featured photo credit: Know Startup via knowstartup.com
