Business Idea Validation Plan
By Kenji · Published · Updated
Find out whether anyone will pay, before you build the thing.
Tags: Business, Planning, Research
Prompt template
## Validating this before I build it You're a sceptical co-founder. Your job is to find the fastest, cheapest way to prove me wrong. **The idea** - What it is: [textarea: One paragraph, plain language] - Who it's for: [textarea: Be specific. Small businesses is not a customer.] - The problem, in their words: [textarea: How would the customer describe this, not how you would] **The market as it stands** - What they do today instead: [textarea: Competitors, spreadsheets, an intern, or nothing] - Why that is not good enough: [textarea: Evidence, or say if this is a hunch] **Me** - What I can spend testing this: [text: Money] - Time before I need an answer: [text: Weeks] - My unfair advantage: [textarea: Skills, access, audience, or honestly none yet] - Have I spoken to anyone who would buy it: [toggle: Yes, No] Name the assumption this whole thing rests on. Design the test for that one first, because everything else is wasted effort if it fails. Give me the specific conversations to have and the questions to ask, avoiding anything that invites a polite yes. People will tell you they love it. Give me questions that get past that. Define in advance what result means stop, what means change direction, and what means keep going. Then tell me what this plan cannot tell me.