So you’ve come up with a killer idea for an app. You know it’ll be a game-changer and you want to get “first mover advantage” before someone else copies you.
Time to go out and build it, right?
Not necessarily.
Believe us when we say that we understand the allure of building something from scratch, line by line, until it’s finally ready for the market. As developers and former CTOs of tech startups, we love getting our hands dirty and building things ourselves.
It’s what we’ve done our entire careers.
But that’s not the best way — especially when you’re taking an untested idea to market. In fact, in some cases it’s downright irresponsible.
Like the image above implies, oftentimes the solution that you’re looking for is closer, and more attainable, than it appears.
Creating a simple proof of concept and releasing it to users that provide feedback is ten times better than spending months, or even years, to build something that users never use. Your chief goal as an entrepreneur is to get traction and validate product-market fit before committing the resources to build out a fully functional app.
Validating product-market fit ASAP is the name of the game if you want to thrive, and you can do that without building software. Companies like Angie’s List and Craigslist did this with a simple email newsletter.
Yes, this is the age old “Buy versus Build” debate, but the difference is that today there are an ABUNDANCE of tools at your disposal to help you rapidly assemble a high-functioning MVP that proves out your concept — on a budget. This has tipped the scales to where “Buy” needs re-evaluation.
To that end, we love:
Not to mention the plethora of other tools (Shopify, Airtable, Patreon, TypeForm, etc.)
If they solve the problem, you can start gauging if it’s good enough for people to talk about it.
Do they mention it on Twitter?
Do they tell their friends and family about it?
Do they post about it in relevant communities like Reddit?
Would they be willing to pay for it?
If any of these are true, you’re onto something.
Customer validation, even if it’s as simple as an email newsletter with decent open rates is key.
Sometimes that means building tech from the ground up. Other times, an off-the-shelf solution works.
It’s less about the tech and more about crafting a solution that solves the problem — in a way that end users love.
You won’t get it right the first time.
Twitter pivoted to the powerhouse that it is now from a podcast platform called Odeo.
Pinterest pivoted to the powerful visual platform that it is now from being a shopping app called Tote.
Flickr pivoted to the photo sharing site it’s become known for from an online role-playing game called Game Neverending.
They had an idea, released it to the market, and made adjustments based on market feedback.
The biggest asset any company, organization, or product owner has is a functional product that they can release to the market.
Does it stick? If not, then change it.
Do people like to use it? If not, then change it.
Are people talking about it? If not, then change it.
Keep iterating based on user feedback until you have something that people love — and eventually pay for.
That’s how your product evolves from idea, to an improvised minimum viable product, to a custom product, to a market maker.
It makes it much easier to raise funds from investors.
Imagine two scenarios; one in which you share a pitch deck of a potentially disruptive idea to investors, and another in which you demonstrate a working prototype, a gradual uptick in user adoption, user feedback, and a stream of paying customers.
If you were an investor, which entrepreneur would you invest in?
But it’s not just a win for the investor, it’s a win for the entrepreneur also.
The entrepreneur can now command more money at a much better valuation, and give up much less equity, all because he took the time to rapidly build a prototype and sell it to paying customers who provide feedback that makes the product better.
It’s a much better story for everyone involved; the investors, the entrepreneurs, and the end users.
Otherwise you’ll end up building something, changing it 100 times, and spending
$500,000 only to end up scrapping it because it doesn’t solve the core problem.
If you understand the problem well enough, you can cobble together a solution with any number of the tools that you have at your disposal so that you can get customer validation.
Afterall, Angie’s List and Craigslist started as simple email lists before they became the juggernauts that they are today.
