Build it and they will not come.
How to validate an idea fast and avoid creating something people don't need.
Welcome to Dev Build.
Every month, I cover the most valuable lesson I've learnt from building an online business solo.
Today, I'll share how I built and launched my idea in two weeks, leading to a quick pivot and 14 days saved.
Launching your idea fast will determine if it is worth building before building it, saving you time and ensuring you only create products your customers need.
The trap is that while most of us know how to create something, few know how to validate whether it is worth creating.
Building something is easy. Building the right thing is hard.
These are the steps I learned this month to avoid this pitfall:
Find an idea fast
Build a Minimum Viable Representation
Launch your product for 3 weeks.
Analyse the response
Here's how you can build the right thing too. Let's jump in.
Find an idea fast
I started my first Founders Club sprint this month.
I had a plan:
Find an idea in 1 week
Build it in 2 weeks
Launch it over the final week
Pat, having seen this movie before, quickly course-corrected my thinking. His recommendation:
Find an idea in 1 day
Build it in 1 week
Launch it for 3 weeks
He said: "No one knows if an idea will work until it hits the market."
So spend 1 day and pick something.
Build an MVR
My immediate question to him was, "But Pat, how do I build a product in a week?"
You don't.
You build a minimum viable representation (MVR).
Your MVR could be a landing page, spreadsheet, or even a simple text message explaining your idea.
Spend most of your time on the launch
You now have something out in the world, so talk about it—a lot.
My goal was to make two launch posts per day for 3 weeks.
To get 30,000 views, 3000 page visits and 300 users.
The goal is to get as many impressions as possible, wherever your potential customers may be.
Analyse the response
As you make your launch posts and get impressions, you will receive feedback.
This could be in the form of actual feedback or simply low engagement.
You will see which posts resonate and which don't.
After a while, you will begin to see a trend.
If you are seeing excitement - you may be on to something.
If you are still hearing crickets - it may be time to pivot.
After a week of launch posts, I quickly realised that my idea—Slidenote—may not provide the value I thought it might. I quickly pivoted to something new and started working on Know.
Without the above framework and Pat's pressure, I would have made this decision in at least double the time—time that I don't have.
Research for one day, build for one week and then talk about it excessively.
If it flies, invest more time into it. If not, cut it and move on.
A Quote
I will leave you with a quote each month that has been valuable with my current challenges.
You must first become consistent before you can become exceptional. - Alex Hormozi.
What's next
In December, I'm going all in on launching Know.
Following my advice:
Building the MVR this week
Launching for the next 3 weeks
Aiming for 30,000 views, 3,000 visits, 100 users
I wish you the best as you build the right thing. Until next month!