Growth Factorials

I frequently connect with founders and aspiring entrepreneurs who are in the early stages of launching a startup or working on an idea for one. Among them, I often find a few individuals who have meticulously built feature-rich versions of their products. They show a keen understanding of their target audience, their needs, and have even mapped out potential revenue streams. These founders have poured significant resources into product development, yet have not yet sold to real customers. Instead, they conduct trials in controlled environments, essentially acting as their own primary customers.

In my view, this approach is a recipe for disaster. Without validation from external customers within the target market segment, a product lacks the reliability needed for a successful product-market fit. The risk of developing unnecessary features looms large, with no guarantee of finding traction in the market despite the invested time and resources.

Every startup idea must undergo validation through the creation of a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) tailored to address the core problem identified by the entrepreneur. This initial iteration should be streamlined, focusing solely on addressing key pain points with the bare minimum of features necessary. While it should convey the product’s purpose clearly, it should not be the final product. Feedback collected from users should guide iterative development until the product can be reliably sold to a specific customer segment.

In a previous venture, we adopted a simple yet effective approach to validate our product ideas. We created brochures outlining key features and solutions, presenting them to potential customers for feedback without disclosing that they were concepts. This served as our MVP, yielding valuable insights. Sometimes, we garnered significant interest; other times, feedback prompted adjustments, and occasionally, the idea failed to resonate. However, each experience informed our decisions, leading to further investment, pivots, or abandonment of the ideas.

For anyone building a startup, it’s important to understand customer pain points, develop solutions, build MVPs, and test them in the market before investing large amount of time, money, and effort to develop feature-rich products. Remember, building a startup is an iterative journey where market feedback serves as your map. Use this feedback from the beginning to navigate your journey well.