One of the most common mistakes you can make as a founder is building something based completely on your own ideas or assumptions.
Only to find out later that the product or service doesn’t exactly fit the market’s needs, and you have to backtrack and rebuild it.
Let’s talk about how to avoid that.
The Most Common Mistake
It’s easy to get excited about an idea and dive straight into building.
But if you don’t take the time to properly understand your target audience’s needs, you risk creating a product that doesn’t exactly fit what they’re looking for.
Or worse - you create a product that nobody wants at all.
This is the quickest and easiest way to waste time, effort and money with a new project, and new founders fall into this trap all the time.
The Smarter Move: Sell It First
Selling your idea before you build it (usually) doesn’t mean charging money, although crowdfunding is an option too.
But rather, it means engaging your target audience and trying to capture interest in your idea before you take the time to build it.
Begin with a solid idea in mind and plan out how your product or service is going to work.
Then, just as if you had created the first version of your project, build out a landing page that walks users through what your project does and how it works.
The purpose of this landing page will be to start building a waitlist of users who are interested in your project, and would like to be the first to know when it becomes available.
The goal is simple: if it’s “selling”, you’re on the right track. Go ahead and start building the first version of the product.
If it’s not, then something’s missing.
Go back to your research, run more interviews, and find out what the market’s looking for.
Key Benefits
There are a few key benefits to validating your idea with this strategy:
- Create the best version of your product the first time
- Your waitlist will be the best and easiest way to find early customers
- Save a ton of time, effort, money, and headache
Take your time and don’t overlook this phase of your project.
Bootstrapping a new product or service isn’t about luck - it’s about science.
Follow a plan, and trust the process.
Until next time,
Avery
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