I frequently meet entrepreneurs who have been working on their idea for a while (usually between 1 and 2 years). These are entrepreneurs who have coded or engineered a product that they’re almost ready to take to market. The big mistake startups make at this point is to think that they need to hire someone to look after their business development right away.

Theoretically, the business development manager’s main responsibilities are to meet potential customers and sell. In reality, however, this is not what usually happens. The new employee will, instead, meet potential customers and will find out whether or not there’s value in the product or service. In the best case scenario, they will gather feedback and share it with founders to adapt their product or service to what potential customers really are looking for. This suggests that startups should start interacting with potential customers much earlier.

Statistics show that 42% of startups die because “there is no market need”. How tough is that? It is very unlikely for a startup to succeed if the problem the founder is trying to solve hasn’t been properly understood and the solution hasn’t been considerably validated with potential customers before anything’s built.

When talking about validation with entrepreneurs, they always ask: “How can I validate with potential customers if I don’t have a product?

In the table below you can find methods that will increase the chances of your startup succeeding:

If you would like to better understand the problem you are solving, I recommend you to use one or two of the following 5 methods before you move forward and build a solution:

1. Customer discovery interviews – This method consists of interviewing people who you think have needs you can solve through your idea. At this stage, you don’t mention your idea at all, you just ask questions around the needs they might have. These questions will help you better understand firstly if they have a need and then if that need is big enough for them to be willing to get a solution for it. You can master customer discovery interviews by reading “The mum test”
2. Observation – Observation consists of observing the behaviour of people in situations where they might have a need or face a problem. By observing, you can find how tough the problem is and how people are solving it now. This is probably the most reliable method (and the most exceptional) because behaviour is the most trusted evidence. People might not be completely honest in an interview but they will behave as they think and believe.
3. Data mining/research – Sometimes you have a business idea that solves a problem for a group of people you don’t have easy access to. This makes it difficult to interview them or observe them. I am talking for example having an idea for CEOs of big corporations, royal family members, or people that simply are in other countries. In this case, data-based research and mining can help you better understand a problem.
4. Focus groups – This method consists of gathering together a group of people that you believe might have a problem or need in common and discussing topics related to what you think their needs/problems are.
5. Open-ended surveys – Surveys that are open-ended are good way of letting people express themselves about something. Unlike traditional surveys, where people are limited to the answer options you give them, an open-ended surveys allows respondents the freedom to answer as they see fit. This can give you some unexpected and valuable answers.

If you are not sure which method to use, the following graph might help you:

Thanks!