So, you’ve thought of the next best thing and you want to make a startup! You’ve thought long and hard about how this is the next unicorn and it’s going to take the world by storm! However, your idea is just that, it’s an idea.
Now, how do you turn that idea into a product, get investors, and build a business? Follow these steps and it will help you turn your business into a reality!
Check for Competition.
Finding out if there are competitors is a big step moving forward. Your idea is a great idea, but someone might have already created it. Finding out about competition is not too hard. Say your looking to build a mobile application. Go to your phone’s store, Apple App Store or Google Play, search for the base concept of your idea, and look at the competitors that exist. If there is competition, don’t allow it to get you down in the dumps. Just because there is competition doesn’t mean your product can’t compete. It just means it might be harder to gain market share. Maybe your idea goes steps beyond, the competitors that exist, or your product is focused on an completely different target market.
Once you check for competitors and you feel confident to continue to move forward, the next step you should approach is Market Validation.
Market Validation
Why should I validate if my idea is great? Because developing an product is a large undertaking and an expensive one, and every great idea is not needed.
How do you validate? Start talking about your idea and concept to friends and family. See if they think that it is a good idea. If you begin to get positive feedback take the next step and begin to gather Quantitative and Qualitative data. My suggestion for gathering this information is by creating a google form survey. Unlike SurveyMonkey or other survey platforms out there, Google doesn’t put a restriction on the amount of questions you can put into your survey.
Create your survey in an unbiased approach. You want to make sure not to push respondents into the answers you want. Questions should allow the respondent to feel as if no answer is wrong. Because no answer is wrong! You want to collect as much data as possible to confirm if the existing market is waiting for a product like the one you have created.
Not only will the data be good for confirming if you should move forward with the idea, it will allow you to use that data when creating your Financial projects and identifying the Serviceable Available Market.
Prototype
Getting a prototype is the step one of many in the approach to getting a product developed. My biased opinion, Marvelapp.com is the best place to create your prototype. It is an easy to use platform with prebuilt buttons, and designs that allow you to quickly create a clickable prototype.
Don’t worry about the application looking, “beautiful” at this point. Focus on the User Experience and the flow of the application. Make the app as simple as possible, approach it with the K.I.S.S. (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID) approach. The simpler an app is the easier it is for a use. However, simple interfaces do not result in simple development. Usually the simpler a complex idea is, the more complex it is to develop.
When you are creating the prototype of the application, keep in mind what the Minimal Viable Product (MVP). To learn more about an MVP read this blog: How to Create an MVP
At this point start continue talking to your friends and family! They have the best ideas for the product! Usually those who are so hands on and embedded in the product fail to see the easiest fixes. When someone doesn’t know the direction of the company, what driving forces are, or discussions that have been had, it allows them to approach it with a clean slate only looking at the app as a user.
As a user what do they want to be improved, changed, and see? They will tell you! Everyone has an opinion! Some are good, some bad, but take them all to heart and listen to the ones that you hear multiple times! Through your discussions it’s Important to get quotes from people in your target markets! The more genuine and positive the better!
So, where are we now? You know the market wants your product, Check! You’ve created a clickable prototype, Check! You’ve shown it to people and collected, hopefully, positive feedback, Check!
What’s the next step? Check back next week for the 2nd part of How to turn and idea into the next big thing!