How To Validate Your Startup Idea

Startups can also fail. It is a fact that not everyone is prepared to think about the worst case scenario. Everyone becomes an entrepreneur with the hope of achieving the highest of successes. But not everyone can be as ruthless as  Steve Jobs and not everyone has Dhirubhai Ambani’s business acumen. But a little foresight can help a company for years to come. Strengthen and refine your idea by validating it before actually launching your company or working towards producing your actual product. Here’s how you can check if your startup idea won’t ultimately lead you to failure.

1.  Answer Why, What, When, Where, Who and How
 Make a list and answer these basic questions. Why do you want to launch this idea? What are the key features of the product? When do you plan on launching the product? Where will the product work best? Who is your target audience? How will you finance your startup? If you’ve covered these basics, you’ve already built a strong foundation for your startup.

2.  Focus Groups
A small group of people judging your idea and providing feedback will help you look at your product from a different perspective. This could be a website, a demo product or even an ecommerce application. Audience interacting with your product will allow you to find the core problem your product solves in a unique and novel way and hone it to become the best solution address that specific problem.

3. Survey
Prepare a questionnaire regarding the need for such a product in the market and ask as many people as possible to answer it truthfully. This is probably the simplest way to learn if there is a need for your startup idea and whether it will work out in the end. The key idea here is to validate an idea before investing money and time in it by asking people if it is something they want in the first place. 

4. Beta Version
If your startup idea is a product or app create a first draft to test the waters. Use beta versions and send it out to a select number of people. Correct the bugs, make the necessary corrections and improve the performance from the feedback before allowing millions of people to use your product or service. Nothing generates a bad name like a poorly constructed product or app.

5. Research
Research is a part and parcel of an entrepreneurs life. Therefore, before establishing your company, conduct thorough research on all the other startups working in the same or similar areas to understand their products and services better. This will give you the opportunity to add that extra edge to make your product the best in the field and second to none. 

While starting a business is a hustle, don’t let that get in your way to success. Take your time to understand if your unique idea is capable of competing against the other unique ideas. If you do have an idea that succeeded against all odds let us know in the comments below. You can also write to us at info@startupstories.in.