By Hannah Wright
Are you an entrepreneur who has tried several business ideas but still hasn’t found the perfect idea for your new business? Well you are not alone In fact, many startup founders experience some flawed products before they succeed.
The best way not to fall into this trap is to start a minimum viable product (MVP) that will validate your starting idea before you put all your time and energy into it. There are tons of ways to start a business MVP. So let’s go over the main steps and work in my business.
1. Let the idea find you instead of forcing an idea
Many startup founders (and I also made this mistake) try to find one right startup idea wrong: They start from a blank board. Then they try to come up with ideas that people might find cool. You start with ideas rather than problems.
This is actually a reverse approach. Instead of trying to come up with a starting idea, instead look for problems that you may have or problems that others are experiencing.
2. Test things on a small scale before investing your time
This point will save you hundreds (if not thousands) of hours, and the concept is pretty simple too: before investing a lot of time on a project, create a mini version of your business idea and see if people are willing to pay for it it
Also, make sure you get some upfront payments before investing too much. It’s easy for someone to tell that they may buy your product once it starts. These people may even have the best of intentions and cheer you on as you build your product, but their enthusiasm can often be misleading. People want to be nice and encouraging, but the important thing to know is that this isn’t the same as handing over their payment details.
So make a mini version of your product – as minimal as possible – and see how the market reacts to it (are people ready to pay for your product?).
3. Use the live chat on your website to identify customer needs
When testing your product idea, be accessible to visitors by adding live chat to your website. Live chat can provide a forum where your visitors can feel comfortable learning more about the product and the features they want.
It also helps you identify customer objections and challenges. For example, if a lot of people ask about a particular feature, it could be a sign that that feature needs to be added. However, be careful not to react too quickly to requests until you notice a clear pattern.
4. Don’t put too much emphasis on pricing in the early days
Many business owners will be obsessed with pricing for hours. In the early stages of your startup, don’t worry too much about finding the perfect price. At this stage, it is more important to determine whether or not people are paying for your product in the first place.
Start at the beginning with a reasonable price to test the market. You can always go back and make adjustments later. Remember not to rate your product too low as that could be a red flag for customers. If anything, we founders tend to underestimate our products.
5. Prioritize action over research
When starting an MVP, it is important to jump in without too much delay or analysis paralysis. Too many people are embroiled in research, stress, and worry – and then don’t bring their idea to market at all. Successful entrepreneurs, on the other hand, tend to take action and aren’t afraid to learn along the way.
It’s true that people might not buy your product right away, or that you might not get the first reaction they were looking for, but here’s the thing: objections can actually be good. Most digital products go through multiple iterations and changes before finding paying customers.
Over time, it becomes easier to deal with rejection. You need to hear exactly why people don’t believe your product is good enough for you to make improvements and create something that people will love.
6. Expect your product to change (and embrace it)
Your product from launch to product / market customization will look very different. Avoid becoming too tied to a specific function or general product direction. Otherwise, you risk not being open to new ideas that will make your product more successful in the long term.
It’s important to be flexible in the early days when it comes to aligning your business. Failure to see desirable results and tempted not to make changes to your product may indicate that you may be too attached to your original vision or concept.
However, it’s okay to have certain preferences. It is normal for us founders to feel empathetic to a certain extent. The key is to keep going openly, listening to customer feedback, and making important changes if necessary. If you are too persistent in your opinion, it can affect the long-term growth of your product.
7. Don’t be a mysterious, faceless company
While many founders may not like to be the center of attention, it can also be harmful to mysteriously hide behind a company name. Why is this? Would you rather buy from an unknown company with mysterious employees whose names cannot be found, or would you rather buy from an unknown company with a team that is easy to learn?
There’s a reason an “About” page increases conversions. It shows visitors that you and your team are human. When a potential customer can’t find anything about the owners or employees of a company, they wonder why they’re hiding.
When people think about a purchase, they often ask themselves, “Who is behind this company? Will they support me if I have problems or need support? “That being said, there are good reasons for this concern. Some companies don’t always offer great support, and that lack of support only gets worse as businesses grow.
However, this can actually be a huge benefit for you. As a small startup, you can offer customers something that most large companies can’t: direct communication with the founder and a team to take care of it. Believe it or not, many customers prefer to work with a large company.
Resist the temptation to act like a big, faceless corporation and instead embrace who you are. If helping your customers is your priority, the best way to reassure customers is to show you how to handle support and introduce your company and team. A little e-introduction can go a long way.
Other items from AllBusiness.com:
8. Avoid investing in paid marketing too early
When ironing out the details of your product at an early stage, it’s important to have conversations with customers and optimize your product based on their feedback. That way, you also have time to figure out who your target audience is and what type of messages they are best responding to. It is usually not a good idea to invest money in paid marketing or advertising until you reach the product / market. Otherwise, you could just throw your money away with no results.
Once you have a healthy number of paying customers and your website conversion rate is reasonable, it’s time to focus on paid marketing. That way, you know your business is in a healthy place and can convert a decent number of visitors from paid traffic sources.
9. Find the metrics that matter most to your business
These days it can be tempting to get drawn into the world of “vanity metrics”. Whether that’s the number of visitors you get or a specific number of press reports, it’s important to separate key metrics from vanity metrics. While press coverage feels great, watch out for the metrics that really move the needle and grow your business.
The most valuable metrics are different for every company. However, some important factors can be conversion rate, churn rate, and monthly revenue growth. Keep a table of the metrics that will have the greatest impact on your business and update it every month. This way you can keep track of what is working and what needs improvement. It also helps you identify problem areas immediately so that you can fix them.
By following these steps, you can base your decisions on data, rather than hype or emotion. And you can be more confident that your efforts are being directed towards the right business areas.
10. Create a repeatable process
Once you have your first paying customers, create a repeatable process that can scale as you grow. Since you’ve proven that a particular method works, take some time to record your processes and document how you found your customers. Then focus on the most efficient channels and find ways to scale those channels.
Once you’ve gained your first customers through your blog, look for ways to create more meaningful content or outsource the work to replicate the process and reach its full potential. If you are able to automate a step or two of your process, consider how you can accomplish this. These efforts require some time in advance, but the future savings will be worth it.
11. Find a sustainable routine that works for you
As entrepreneurs, we value freedom of time more than most others. It’s what often gets people on the path of entrepreneurship – not wanting someone else to control our time. Try different work routines until you find one that works best for you.
You might like to work a few long days to complete an important project, but then you need a few days to relax afterwards. Or maybe you want to take a vacation after an important sales milestone. As an entrepreneur, you can take advantage of this creative flexibility and take advantage of your productivity. There is nothing wrong with having an unconventional schedule, and indeed, you should take advantage of the fact that now you can manage your own time. It’s part of the beauty of being your own boss.
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About the author
Contribution by: Hannah Wright
Hannah Wright is the founder of SaaS Design, a destination for Adobe XD and Figma templates and UI kits for technology companies looking to accelerate and iterate their design process quickly.
Company: SaaS Design
Website: www.saasdesign.io
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