Successful tech companies aren’t built on motivation alone, but by testing the viability of the idea behind the business.
Just as with any entrepreneur, we know that the excitement of coming up with a brilliant business idea can fuel your motivation for months. Nevertheless, successful tech companies aren’t built on motivation alone, but also on testing the viability of their idea and pivoting their services to better suit market needs.
As many as 90% of startups fail because of a lack of market need and the same can safely be said for apps. With over 5 million apps (and counting) available on App Store and Google Play, it’s necessary to ensure your product has a distinct marketplace. What you need is to find a specific niche in that marketplace, where despite existing dominant players, you have the capacity to solve a problem or address a want that no else is.
Once you work out whether your idea is worth building, you can pursue it wholeheartedly. But how do you know if what you thought up is worth your time and your resources? We will dive into the deep end of how to validate your idea, so you can stop wondering, and start working towards answers and a successful digital business.
Know Your Market
The first step in idea validation is market research. Once you understand who your target audience would be, conduct surveys, research and interviews with these people. Set out to do at least 40 one-on-one user interviews, preferably live or through an online call. You’re bound to get the most valuable information through moderated interaction, while any additional data you gather through focus groups or online surveys will give you added value.
The purpose of your market research is to understand what your potential users’ pressing needs and wants are, what extra features would be necessary, what advantages your competitors offer, or where your target base operates. Knowing all this will assist in developing a rewarding user experience, which, in turn, will drive the success of your app. Optimising features to make your users happy will give it a clear advantage over competitors. By doing meaningful analysis, your work will allow you to present potential partners and investors with tangible evidence of user and market interest.
Assess Your Competition
Assessing your existing competition is paramount before deciding whether your idea is worthy of your efforts and finances. Your task at this stage is to ascertain who else is doing what you’re attempting to achieve, and who else is doing something similar, but not quite the same.
Don’t be deterred by the existence of a successful competing product; if your business strategy has an essential point of difference, like solving a problem posed by them, or targeting a different audience, it is valid. Do be wary if you find nobody else is doing what you’re attempting to do. Answering the question ‘why does this not exist yet?’ is vital before further developing your business idea — you might find that the market is still too small or is dwindling, or that there is a key piece of technology or legal context missing. Any of these factors will be a critical roadblock in making your business idea a reality.
Seek Feedback
Pitching to investors is the final step to idea validation — not the first. Before starting the long process of app development, check off your list all the research questions about your industry and competition. Next, ensure you discuss your concept both with industry insiders and professionals. Casting out your idea to a close circle of people with valuable insights, and circling out from there will ensure you’re not operating inside a vacuum. Try to talk to about 10 people, aiming for different perspectives. You can stop the interviews sooner if the answers get repetitive, or choose to go further if you feel you still have unanswered questions.
Nevertheless, don’t necessarily incorporate every opinion you receive. Business insiders and professionals tend to be on the fence when it comes to feedback, and even their advice will be coloured by their previous experiences. Indeed, it makes a world of a difference having people to pound with questions, who help you understand the components that don’t work in your business model. But it’s essential to be rational in evaluating their feedback and find on your own a system in which every component fits together to make for a successful business.
Do It All In One Go
Normally, we’re not the ones to toot our own horns, but if the glove fits, your have to do it, don’t you? After helping over 200 founders validate their ideas, we’ve come up with an essential startup package that’s focused on telling you whether you’ve got the next big thing or not.
We’ll guide you through all of the above and help you validate your idea with a world-class prototype that looks and feels like a real app. Explore your idea with industry insiders, understand your market, test your assumptions with real users, get relevant feedback and turn your app idea into a viable business model.
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