How To Build A Minimally Viable Product

idea validation

Continuation from yesterday…..(How To Validate Your Business Idea With Crowdfunding)

Example: Develop a detailed presentation for your Pet Smart Phone. Concentrate on outlining all of its benefits and features. If at all possible, build a working model and produce a video. Once ready, find a crowdfunding platform that satisfies all your needs. Post your project on the site and promote it in order to see what kind of a response you will get. Go to work and deliver on all of the promises made during this process.

Until now we have concentrate on steps that were, more or less, free. Where your time and efforts were the only real requirements. Yet, if you were to follow the steps above you would be able to ascertain a fairly good idea if your product or service was legitimate. If it wasn’t you would have to go back to the drawing board and then repeat the process outlined here for your new or adjusted idea. More importantly, if your product, service or idea passed the steps above with flying colors, it would be an opportune time to move on to the Idea Validation Level #2. Assuming you would like to continue on with developing your idea.

Level #2: An In-Depth Idea Scan

This is where the proverbial tires hit the pavement. In addition to your time commitment, some sort of a monetary commitment will be necessary at this stage. This is where you will develop a working sample of your product or service and attempt to sell it in a real world environment. And while most people will make a big deal out of it, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, a minimally viable product is all that you are trying to accomplish at this stage. Build it fast, build it cheap and ship.

“Real Artists Ship”
-Steve Jobs

Let’s now take a quick look at a number of different business models to see how you can implement this step with rapid speed and effectiveness. Just remember, all you are trying to do is determine if you have a viable product or service on your hands.

Online Businesses:

Buy a domain and a web hosting package for your business. Setup a WordPress site and begin to develop your website. Total time and monetary investment…..about 1 hour and $70/year. I would recommend using Bluehost.com if you decide to go this route. If your web project requires a customized solution I would recommend hiring programmers from either Russia or India to build your site on the cheap. You can easily find such programmers on freelancing sites such as Elance.com

Thereafter, develop a minimally viable website for your product or service as fast possible and begin to promote it. The entire process should not take more than 30 days. Unless you are working on something truly unique. Once ready, begin selling your product directly to your target audience to see what kind of a response you generate.

It also important to note that since your website will be a brand new one; you shouldn’t expect too much traffic. If any at all. If that is the case, you should rely primarily on Google Adwords or Facebook Ads to drive highly relevant leads to your product or service offering. If you are not familiar with developing ad campaigns on these platforms I would recommend doing a lot of research into the area before committing a single dollar.

To Be Continued Tomorrow…..(Why Am I Seeing This On A Financial Website?)