I started the entrepreneurship game a few years ago with my business partner @vladimir_agaev.
My main fear was to not find a good business idea at the beginning of that journey. I say "good" because we all thought that our first business idea would be the one that would make us successful. And it's not.
Actually, it's not that much the business idea that matters. But the execution.
And we had a lot of ideas [spoiler alert: shitty for most of them].
Our process was:
But I was supposed to know that.We all read Lean Startup, Zero to One, and other "top 10 books to read to be an entrepreneur". However, it is hard to extract a clear process from business books. The value is always distilled over 300 pages. As such, it is extremely time-consuming.
I've done a checklist [500 checks] of everything that needs to be done to find a "good" [profitable] bootstrapped business. It is not the recipe for success. Take it as a way to derisk your next project.
Here are the key takeaways:
General principles
I learned that the best way to create products is to follow my five-step process.
Formulate hypotheses that will be confirmed in steps 2, 3, and 4.
If at some point you realize that the idea is not that good, cut the loss.
Come back to step one.
How to find it? Identify flaws in your workflow at work, inefficiencies in a market, or simply get inspired by other businesses. Are people talking a lot about the problem? Is the problem expensive to solve? Are people really annoyed by the problem? Is it something that prevents them from sleeping?
A solution that helps you to be better in social, security, physical, economic, recognition, achievement (i.e: be more productive), growth.
Is it a problem encountered by many people, or are you focussing on a niche? If you're focussing on a niche, is the niche "accessible" and open to innovation?
Is your idea explainable in 15 seconds? Can you explain it without describing the features?
businesses that require high capital, volumes (in terms of users), and legal challenges. (i.e.: fintech, social networks, gambling companies].
Avoid the "I created this because I would personally use it" approach. You're not your customer. As such, nobody cares about your opinion. What counts is the feedback of the market on your idea.
Limit yourself to 5-10 competitors. Research of G2, Capterra, Alternativeto, etc. Talk to industry experts and hear their opinion about the problem you're solving and understand how they solve it without your solution (they most probably use a manual approach or a competitor).
If you don't have any direct or indirect competitor, go back to step 1.
List the top 10 features of each of your competitors. Keep the top 3 features. Focus on how to achieve them in a better way.
One of the most difficult tasks is conveying the right message to the customer. They must understand directly what your product is about and how you can help them to solve their problem. Get inspired by the competition, and aggregate everything in word clusters.
Try their product. Check customer reviews (g2, capterra, etc). Talk with their sales team and customer support. Understand why their customers are choosing them over other competitors. Discover inefficiencies in their product.
Experts in the industry, key stakeholders at companies. Pretend you're making a press article or a blog contribution about them. They will be more likely to talk with you.
Try to be as neutral as possible. Don't talk too much while interviewing them (you must talk at most during 20% of the conversation). Don't ask questions for the sole goal of having the confirmation you're right about a topic. Show them a path, and let them talk about their frustrations.
How do they deal with the problem that would potentially be solved by your solution? Do they use one of your future competitors? Why did they choose that solution over another? What they like about the solution they're currently using, and what they don’t like?
Who will, in the end, use your product? Who is the key stakeholder that will validate the purchase of your solution and who will actually use it? (i.e: a CFO is not the buyer persona of a marketing solution). What is their budget allocated to solve the problem they are encountering? What kind of companies are you targeting (Startups, SMEs, Corporate)?Who would not buy your product?
This one is a difficult one. Fill this famous sentence:
We help {target audience} to {problem you're solving} by {your solution}.
Always keep those 3 points in mind:
If you don't follow a framework, you will get lost. You will lose time, energy, and motivation.
In the end, it's all about creation and iteration. You don't need to read dozens of business books. To be honest, they pretty much say all the same thing. We summarised the most important bits in a digestible format for you.
The Checklist is the most compelling framework available. You will learn how to use 20% of your time to reach 80% of the results. Work less, but smarter. Focus on what will really determine the success of your company.
I'm sharing daily insights on my Twitter. Follow me here as I continue to document my entrepreneurship journey.