a-Qube’s Proof of Concept: Startup Idea Validation (SIV) — Part I

Ideas are countless. They are everywhere, we all have them. Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t mean we can always make a business out of them. In fact, our ideas need validation. Specifically, before trying to turn them into a business, a product, a service, they need to be validated in the market — from the very own people who are going to use them in their everyday life.

Following our own advice then, before releasing the first prototype of a-Qube, we decided to validate our idea with real people, in real time. That’s how our Startup Idea Validation (SIV) workshop was conceived. Not only the first Proof-of-Concept of a-Qube — but an actual physical place where participants could validate their ideas before starting to build them.

This way, between July and November 2018, a-Qube’s founders ran Startup Idea Validation — a local incubator in the universitary heart of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.

During six workshops and a final event (the “Great Grand Finale”), we brought together more than 200 participants from different nationalities, experiences and backgrounds, all willing to implement their business ideas, and the collaborative development that our framework provides.

Using the QUBE Idea Validation Framework, 18 ideas were developed into complete Business Proposals in less than 120 minutes each. Event after event, not only the 6 winning teams won a ticket to redeem QUBs in our application and start validating their business ideas, but they had the chance to meet and compete with each other in a final event, a second round of implementation to polish their business proposals and turn them into real-world products.

In Part I of this two-article series, we’ll talk about our motivations to launch the local incubator, its value to participants and QUBE Idea Validation Framework.

Don’t be afraid, say it in 6-to-8 words

Innovators have a choice that greets them at the start of every day: they can choose to take an idea and run with it as far and fast as they can, or they can simply let it stay as an idea, a dream, a vision — forever sealed into their shelf. We, at a-Qube, chose to run, and we were excited to take with us as many people as we could.

Running, however, means to set your idea free, public, open to the judgment of others. Now, that’s the scariest part of all. Nonetheless, as scary as it might seem at first, sharing an idea is the only way to let it grow.

In fact, to lock an idea away in your own brains, away from the light and from others’ input, knowledge and creativity, means to starve it to death, to deny it the water it needs to grow.

In each event, after everyone had proposed their ideas, participants had 3 minutes to vote their two favorites with a secret vote — written down on a piece of paper and folded, as in the old times. After reading the votes out loud and counting them, the idea with most votes was elected the winning one, and the implementation process could start.

This one idea — whether it was “Paying people for traveling” or “Is it my kid? Mobile App” — served as the Root Idea, the foundation for the next steps of the process. After that, each participant was randomly assigned to a team, and the three newly-formed teams had the chance to tackle that idea and develop it in a unique way together with their peers.

In that way, participants could bring their expertise and unique perspective to the idea, and were able to collaborate and co-create under the guidance of mentors.

From “ah-ha moment” to an actual business proposal using QUBE Idea Validation Framework

Developing your idea into a fully understandable business proposal requires, however, some work. And most importantly, it requires some structure or a framework that aspiring entrepreneurs and contributors could use as guidance for their thinking. That’s where the QUBE Idea Validation Framework came into a picture.

QUBE Idea Validation Framework includes 6 implementation slots covering everything from developing a product/service and its functionality to deciding how your future product is going to look like and the audience it will address. The framework was designed to:

• Implement different types of Business Ideas
• Provide real-time Market Validation
• Measure community engagement in real-time
• Optimize collective idea development
• Give participants rewards for their contribution

Letting participants work in small teams and employing the QUBE Idea Validation Framework, we’ve made sure that the development time was well-spent and that everyone kept the end-goal in sight. During 90 intensive minutes, we saw participants working collaboratively, having heated discussions and eventually finding a common ground to proceed with their idea development.

Each implementation slot had a countdown, which again, as in the old times, we were measuring with a 15-minute hourglass. Not only it had a romantic charm, but the hourglass was visible for all teams at once — which bred urgency and involvement together with leading to a “try-fast, fail-fast” kind of approach.

This process, together with the collaborative approach and the short time-span, eventually turned each workshop into a rewarding, satisfying, intense learning experience, both for the participants and the mentors.

Now that we’ve introduced to the background story of SIV incubator, the fun begins.

In the second part of this article-series, we’ll take a closer look at the market validation side of the development itself, as well as our incentive system, which helps to keep participants engaged, and eventually the math behind choosing the winning idea.

Together with all these details, of course, we’ll have some first-hand insights from the participants themselves. Stay tuned.