52 Battle-tested Ways to Validate Your Startup Business Idea 👩🏼🔬 (#TT01)
This post is the first part of an ongoing series on substack about Startup Validation, called Testing Tuesdays.
It will be continuously updated over time.
What to expect? Additional experiments, (links to) in-depth tutorials, and tools that will help with analysing test results.
Be sure to check in every so often, or stay updated by following the publication.
Brilliant Startup Ideas
If you are anything like me, you are hit with multiple brilliant business ideas each day. At least, that’s what I usually think at the time.
Whether you’re solo-preneuring, or running a corporate incubator — deciding which ideas to go all-in on can be dizzying. Especially when you are not the only person calling the shots.
It’s tempting to stay in the brainstorming headspace, where all ideas are good ideas. It’s comfortable. Which is why we can end up spending a lot more time there than is necessary.
So, I’ll let you in on two little secrets:
- Procrastination is the all-time biggest killer of startups.
(And it is not even reflected in the failed startup stats.) - Discussions don’t make for good design decisions. Experiments do.
Therefore I have compiled this list of 52 Battle-tested ways to Validate your Startup Business Idea.
With it, you can start making design decisions based on results — not on gut or consensus. And while gut is underrated, it takes a long time to develop. I’d rather stick to the experiments.
How to Use
The experiments below are grouped by their most relevant phase (though most can be used in multiple phases).
Naturally, you will have to determine which phase your current idea is in, using the 5 Levels of Validation:
- Problem: Is the problem you solve actually a problem for users?
- Solution: Does your business idea solve that problem for users?
- Commercial: Will people actually pay for your value proposition?
- Market: Does the market adopt your solution and continue to use it?
- Scale: Is your business scaleable in a predictable manner?
For each experiment, you will find:
- Description: A brief description…
- Type: Qualitative, Quantitative or Both.
- Speed: Scores the amount of time and effort that goes into execution of the method.
- Reliability: Scores the strength of the evidence in relation to the stage. A low score means it’s a low driver for decision-making.
Disclaimer: scores can vary per stage, the average is reflected here - Cost: How much can you expect to spend on the experiment.
Personnel cost generally not included.
Without Further Ado…
You can access the interactive Database here:
Access 52 Validation Experiments Now
…OR you can read the text version below the CTA.
Thanks for reading! 🙏🏻
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The Experiment List
Problem-Fit
01: The Mom Test
Asking the opinion of your Mom.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 5/5
Reliability: 1/5
02: Keyword Research
Research search keyword volume and quality within your domain.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 4/5
03: Trendspotting
Observe mimetic user behaviours within the defined domain.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
04: Technological Developments
Explore technological developments in your domain.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
05: Stakeholder Mapping
Visually map all stakeholders in your ecosystem, along with their pains & needs.
Type: Both
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 3/5
06: Stakeholder Interviews
Interview individual stakeholders in your ecosystem to better understand their pains and needs.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
07: Value Chain Analysis
Break down the Value Chain on multiple levels: Stakeholders, Resources, Value, Time.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
08: Expert Fly-In
Invite topical experts for a feedback session to evaluate opportunities, problems and ideas.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 5/5
Reliability: 4/5
09: Scoping Session
Invite decision-makers to align domain and scope of your project to strategy.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 2/5
Solution-Fit
10: A Day in the Life
Ask to tail a potential user for a day to better understand their Customer Journey and the challenges that arise in their life.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
11: Digital Ad Campaign
Run a digital ad campaign hooked up to the right analytical software.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
12: Customer Support
Go undercover in Customer Support for one or multiple days to discover customer’s pains & needs.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
13: Painkiller or Vitamin?
Gut-check whether your solution solves a pain or is a vitamin.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 5/5
Reliability: 2/5
14: Digital Questionnaire
One-to-many questionnaire to potential target group in order to get feedback on problem, solution, and / or commercial value.
Type: Both
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 4/5
15: Boosted Blog Post
Write a blog post outlining a problem / solution and boosting it using a small amount of money to gauge repsonse.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
16: E-mail Campaign
Run a targeted e-mail campaign to gauge problem- or solution-fit.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
17: Brochure
Physically hand out a flyer or brochure and observe / measure feedback.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 2/5
18: Deconstruction
Break down competing or failed businesses on all levels to learn and improve on problem-, solution- and commercial fit.
Type: Both
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 5/5
19: Fake Button
Create a non-functioning button in an existing product to test interest in a new feature.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 3/5
20: Mystery Shopping
Complete and record the buyer’s journey for one or more competing offerings to learn, steal and improve your proposition on multiple levels.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
21: Paper Prototype
Use a paper mock-up to test your idea with actual users.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 3/5
22: Clickable Prototype
Use a digital mock-up to test your concept with actual users.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
23: User Test Recording
Ask users to record themselves and provide voice-over whilst performing pre-defined tasks in a prototype.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 5/5
24: Landing Page
Build and launch a commercial single-page-website explaining your value proposition, and measure on-page user behaviour.
Type: Both
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 5/5
25: Explainer Video
Create a video or animation explaining your value proposition and show it to end-users to gauge interest, understandability, retention and /or reproduction.
Type: Both
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 2/5
26: Buy A Feature
Give users a limited amount of mock-currency to spend on a handful of features, to discover preference and priorities.
Type: Both
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 3/5
Commercial Fit
27: The Upvote
Launch your product on a curation platform s.a. Product Hunt and measure upvotes.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
28: Crowdfunding
Launch your product on a platform s.a. Kickstarter to measure intention-to-buy whilst leveraging the crowd to raise funding.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 1/5
Reliability: 5/5
29: Online Communities
Share your product idea (at any stage) within a target community s.a. Reddit to gauge feedback from your most niche audience.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
30: Pop-up Store
Shortly open a Point of Sale to measure user interest and feedback.
Type: Both
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 4/5
31: Technical Prototype
Use a functional, non-aesthetical prototype to test technical feasibility of your product.
Type: Both
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 4/5
32: Visual Prototype
Use a visual, physical, non-functioning prototype to gauge commercial interest in your product.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
33: Sales Force Test Run
Have your sales force pitch a proposition to potential customers as if it were already live and for sale.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 3/5
34: Interest List
Convince interested users to leave their e-mail addresses as a measure of commercial potential.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
35: Pre-Order
Allow users to pre-order your proposition at a discount, to gauge interest and commercial potential.
Type: Quantiative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 5/5
36: Smoke Test
Launch a website as if your product were already available for sale. See how many people try to buy.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
37: Concierge
A form of MVP where on the user’s side things seem automated whereas behind the scenes they are solved with manual labour.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 5/5
38: Wizard of Oz
Test a prototype that gives the impression of a fully functional product, but actually has no code behind it.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
39: No-Code MVP
Build a fully functional MVP using no-code tools. (To be clear, the MVP DOES run on code, but you don’t have to do any of the coding).
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
40: Waiting List
Create a ranked waiting list for interested users to sign up using their e-mail addresses. Optionally gamify moving up in the list.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
41: Business Case
Build an in depth business case to learn the dynamics of your business, determine the Y1 startup cost, and the Y5+ revenue potential.
Type: Both
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
42: Letter of Intent
Convince potential B2B customers to sign a ‘letter of intent’ stating they will purchase your product as soon as it’s finished.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 3/5
Product-Market Fit
43: Viral Loops
Incentivise user behaviour that drives growth.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
44: Beta Launch
Launch a fully functional MVP in a controlled test group for testing + learning purposes.
Type: Both
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 5/5
45: The Gut Check
Use your gut to evaluate whether you have achieved product market fit. Most of the time, you’ll know when you don’t have it.
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 5/5
Reliability: 2/5
46: The Superhuman Engine
Use the P-M-Fit quantification engine pioneered by Superhuman to determine P-M-Fit. (Read More)
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 5/5
47: The Zombie Test
Is your company default alive or default dead? (by Paul Graham)
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 4/5
48: Net Promoter Score
Poll your user base for its promoters and detractors and calculate the NPS.
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 5/5
49: Cohort Retention Analysis
Measure the retention (%) of a cohort of new users over a longer period of time (1+ month).
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 4/5
Reliability: 4/5
50: Organic Growth Rate
Does organic growth + traffic account for ≥50% of new users?
Type: Quantitative
Speed: 3/5
Reliability: 4/5
Scalability
51: The Ghost CEO
Are you able to delegate all of your work in such a way that you are the CEO on paper, but actually others are doing your work? Does the business survive without your interference?
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 4/5
52: The McDonald’s Test
Is your process automated to the extent where it can be copy pasted effortlessly and with little-to-no ramp up?
Type: Qualitative
Speed: 2/5
Reliability: 5/5
Happy Testing! 👩🏼🔬
Resources:
In creating this article I was inspired by and have borrowed from better (wo)men s.a.:
- PaulGraham.com
- Superhuman.com
- Strategyzer.com
- WRKSHP.tools
