Coffee Shops And Building A Business
Since I work remotely, it’s nice to get out of the house and work at a coffee shop from time to time. It’s been a while since doing so and I love the struggle of being productive while still enjoying the people-watching aspect of working in a public setting.
As an entrepreneur, it’s always difficult to prioritize your to-do list when building a company. Everything’s priority number one and things are moving at 1000 miles an hour.
After sending a bunch of emails and spending time thinking ahead about new features we will want to offer in future iterations of our product, I look around and see all sorts of people engaging in conversations with one another. Others are diligently typing away on their laptops. Still, others looking out the window, sipping on their espresso deep in thought.
At the very start of building AlumSum, before even having any designs on paper (or screen), I got out of my introverted comfort zone and started approaching customers at the Starbucks I used to go to and asked questions related to the product we were eventually going to build. I approached people that fit the profile of the target demographic I was going to reach.
I asked them questions about the overall problem my startup is trying to help fix and then steered the questions to more narrowed personal questions that related to the broader problem. This gave me tremendous insight and initial validation of my idea. It provided me the confidence to move forward and start the journey of building the product.
Fast forward to today where we’re in a different stage of the company and progress. However, I find myself in a similar stage as those early days at that now-closed Starbucks where I need to find further validation from actual customers. I’m in a different coffee shop now as I’m writing this post but am having flashbacks to those days of initiating conversations with strangers about problems we’re trying to help solve.
That reminder has refreshed my focus on getting back to asking people about friction points that the market still hasn’t addressed. Start with an idea (this time, new features and versions) and ask people their thoughts. At the end of the day, an idea that’s unvalidated is just a thought in your head. Nothing more. There are millions of ideas every day. It needs to be tested.
I need to get back to working at coffee shops some more. Definitely miss the struggle to find a balance between productivity and people-watching. More importantly, I need these reminders of what’s most important for the business, the customer. Time to get a refill on my coffee.
Thanks for reading, friend! If you like what you read from me, you can buy me a coffee to support me.
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