You have a good idea in mind, and you want to test it out in the world but you don't know where to start? Here are some tips to get you started.
Creating a start-up involves a lot of risk and uncertainty.
First, you risk wasting your time, which is one of the most valuable things you have.
Second, you risk losing your money and your investors' money if you execute your idea too prematurely.
Never make the mistake of executing your business idea without evidence of your product/service's desirability in the eyes of your customers and the existence of a viable long-term business model.
In order to reduce the risks and uncertainties of your project as much as possible, you should first act as an experimenter and test your idea in reality. The three main uncertainties encountered in the process of creating a start-up are:
Who is my customer?
What is his problem?
Will my solution solve my customer's problem?
The first two questions can be answered through customer interviews, also called ethnographic interviews. It is simply a matter of observing and exchanging with your target in order to understand in depth his needs and his main problems. Then, once you have a thorough understanding of your customers' problem, you can try to answer the third question “Will my solution solve my customer’s problem?” To do this, we advise you to create one prototype or more, to test it on the field. The idea here is for you to validate the desirability of your solution in the eyes of your customers (in other words: that your customer likes your product/service and is willing to pay for it) before actually starting to run your business model.
Here are some recommended tools and methodologies for you to test and confirm your idea on the market and to reduce the many risks and uncertainties:
Lean Start-up: this approach is based mainly on the “customer development” method, which makes it possible to take into account the needs of customers as early as possible during the product/service development process.
Design Thinking: promoted by IDEO in the late 1990s, Design Thinking is an innovative method based on a thorough understanding of the customer’s problems. This process of design is based on iterative prototyping cycles that include tests to collect valuable user feedback and thus make constant improvements during this cycle. The basic principle is empathy, which makes it possible to create more human-centred products or services. Design Thinking uses creativity, idea development, rapid prototyping and testing to create solutions that are more in line with the real needs of users.
As a young entrepreneur, you probably already know that the word “Test” must be part of your daily life. Indeed, as you will navigate through the development of your start-up, you will carry out a series of tests in order to confirm:
Your problem
Your solution
Your price
Your acquisition and marketing channels
In order to put your solution to a trial with potential customers, you need to have something to show them, and that’s where the concept of “Prototype” in Design Thinking comes into play. Your prototype’s main goal is to kick your idea out of your head and confront it with the outside world in order to obtain valuable feedback from your users. Be creative. It will allow you to test your idea without wasting your time or money.
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