Your first sale to validate your idea

[LamborghiniLin]

I've read you should try to get your product out as quickly as possible, not to waste time on strategizing, but to promptly validate whether someone would actually pay for it. That means it's not enough to simply ask people, whether they are interested, but rather directly ask for money. Would you agree with that? Or would you say a pre-order without payment yet would also be enough? How do you find your first 1 to 3 customers? Or to pose a more open question: what's your first step in executing the idea and bringing it on the market?
Thanks for your thoughts!

 

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[403burnout]

Check out this thread: GOLD! - HOT! - IDEA - Idea Generation To Execution: Fastlane Millionaire's Step By Step Guide

In my opinion pre-order without payment is not validation. It's too easy for someone to say "Yeah, I'd be interested and pay for that!" when money isn't actually leaving their pockets.

 

[circleme]

That means it's not enough to simply ask people, whether they are interested, but rather directly ask for money. Would you agree with that?

Yes.

My first product was a vitamin, not a real problem solver. I had, and still have, a lot of users. They gave me 5 star reviews and are really happy with my solution. Then, one day, I wanted to monetize it and no one actually paid for the product. There is quite a difference between liking something and liking something AND paying for it. Ship something with good quality (don't ship garbage products) and put a price tag on it. ASAP. If I don't ask for money immediately, it can cost you months of work and at the end of the day, no one is willing to pay for it.

What I'm currently doing (My business model is SaaS): Getting hard-proof (people pay me money) for my MVP that has kind of a low price tag. However, if they pay for it, the problem has to be big enough to give me at least something. After that, I'm improving the product based on customer feedback. Implementing this feedback will lead to more value and I'm able to create a new pricing-tier later.

Or would you say a pre-order without payment yet would also be enough?

How can you pre-order something without a payment? If you mean an e-mail address, then NO. That gives you SOFT-PROOF. No HARD-PROOF.

How do you find your first 1 to 3 customers?

You should know that before building anything imho. I have built myself a mini-businessplan-blueprint. I use that blueprint for any ideas I have. It takes no longer then approximately 30 minutes max.

Some of those question are:

### **Market and target group analysis**

1. **Who is the target group of the extension?**
- Define your target audience’s demographics, interests and online behavior.
2. **What problems does the extension solve for this target group?**
- Identify specific problems or needs that your extension addresses.
3. **Are there existing competing products?**
- Analyze the market for existing similar products and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

### **Marketing and Sales**

1. **Which marketing channels are used?**
- Plan to use social media, email marketing, influencer collaborations, content marketing, etc.
2. **What is the launch strategy?**
- Create a quick launch plan, including pre-launch promotion, partnerships and initial user acquisition.
3. **How is customer satisfaction measured and optimized?**
- Determine how feedback will be collected, analyzed and translated into product improvements.

Replace [extensions] with your product/service, whatever.

First, I define my target audience. After that I research the places where my target audience is often and briefly think about how I can offer my future solution (usually an MVP) there.

Example: The target audience are professional web designers; These are in Facebook groups, YouTube, sub-Reddits, etc.

You can then use these channels either organically or with paid advertising and thereby reach your potential target audience.

 

[LamborghiniLin]

Check out this thread: GOLD! - HOT! - IDEA - Idea Generation To Execution: Fastlane Millionaire's Step By Step Guide

In my opinion pre-order without payment is not validation. It's too easy for someone to say "Yeah, I'd be interested and pay for that!" when money isn't actually leaving their pockets.

Thanks! Should have found that myself...super helpful!

 

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[LamborghiniLin]

Yes.

My first product was a vitamin, not a real problem solver. I had, and still have, a lot of users. They gave me 5 star reviews and are really happy with my solution. Then, one day, I wanted to monetize it and no one actually paid for the product. There is quite a difference between liking something and liking something AND paying for it. Ship something with good quality (don't ship garbage products) and put a price tag on it. ASAP. If I don't ask for money immediately, it can cost you months of work and at the end of the day, no one is willing to pay for it.

What I'm currently doing (My business model is SaaS): Getting hard-proof (people pay me money) for my MVP that has kind of a low price tag. However, if they pay for it, the problem has to be big enough to give me at least something. After that, I'm improving the product based on customer feedback. Implementing this feedback will lead to more value and I'm able to create a new pricing-tier later.

How can you pre-order something without a payment? If you mean an e-mail address, then NO. That gives you SOFT-PROOF. No HARD-PROOF.

You should know that before building anything imho. I have built myself a mini-businessplan-blueprint. I use that blueprint for any ideas I have. It takes no longer then approximately 30 minutes max.

Some of those question are:

### **Market and target group analysis**

1. **Who is the target group of the extension?**
- Define your target audience’s demographics, interests and online behavior.
2. **What problems does the extension solve for this target group?**
- Identify specific problems or needs that your extension addresses.
3. **Are there existing competing products?**
- Analyze the market for existing similar products and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

### **Marketing and Sales**

1. **Which marketing channels are used?**
- Plan to use social media, email marketing, influencer collaborations, content marketing, etc.
2. **What is the launch strategy?**
- Create a quick launch plan, including pre-launch promotion, partnerships and initial user acquisition.
3. **How is customer satisfaction measured and optimized?**
- Determine how feedback will be collected, analyzed and translated into product improvements.

Replace [extensions] with your product/service, whatever.

First, I define my target audience. After that I research the places where my target audience is often and briefly think about how I can offer my future solution (usually an MVP) there.

Example: The target audience are professional web designers; These are in Facebook groups, YouTube, sub-Reddits, etc.

You can then use these channels either organically or with paid advertising and thereby reach your potential target audience.

Thank you for sharing your experience and breaking down your strategy step by step! I'll try to follow your advice.
Does that mean you don't know your first customers personally, but rather get them via ads?

 

[circleme]

Does that mean you don't know your first customers personally, but rather get them via ads?

I don't know them personally, but I know where they are and "who" they are. I know what appeals to them and what doesn't. You can create a persona for that, but I think that's a bit of an overkill. You can answer those questions by yourself in a few minutes. Who are they and where are they?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I've read you should try to get your product out as quickly as possible, not to waste time on strategizing, but to promptly validate whether someone would actually pay for it. That means it's not enough to simply ask people, whether they are interested, but rather directly ask for money. Would you agree with that? Or would you say a pre-order without payment yet would also be enough? How do you find your first 1 to 3 customers? Or to pose a more open question: what's your first step in executing the idea and bringing it on the market?
Thanks for your thoughts!

The 11 year old kids in my neighborhood sell Lemonade on the corner and take Venmo.

 

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[parabolic]

The 11 year old kids in my neighborhood sell Lemonade on the corner and take Venmo.

This! Stop making excuses! Get your product in front of the consumer and take their money already.

 

[LamborghiniLin]

I don't know them personally, but I know where they are and "who" they are. I know what appeals to them and what doesn't. You can create a persona for that, but I think that's a bit of an overkill. You can answer those questions by yourself in a few minutes. Who are they and where are they?

Alright, thanks!

 

[Johnny boy]

I've read you should try to get your product out as quickly as possible, not to waste time on strategizing, but to promptly validate whether someone would actually pay for it. That means it's not enough to simply ask people, whether they are interested, but rather directly ask for money. Would you agree with that? Or would you say a pre-order without payment yet would also be enough? How do you find your first 1 to 3 customers? Or to pose a more open question: what's your first step in executing the idea and bringing it on the market?
Thanks for your thoughts!

What are you selling?

 

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[LamborghiniLin]

What are you selling?

It's going to be my first try of selling anything. I want to make a PDF file and flashcards that help you learn the Japanese alphabet with little stories to make memorising easier

 

[LamborghiniLin]

The 11 year old kids in my neighborhood sell Lemonade on the corner and take Venmo.

Sorry for my late reply! Your little example made me realise I'm afraid of negative judgment and that really made me think. Thanks a lot!

 

[realbillperry]

It's been a helluva long time since I read the Four-Hour Workweek. One of the few parts I really remember is Tim saying to put up the actual pages, so that when people click something on your site, they think they're actually going to be paying for it. Helps to have the price on whatever button they click, so they have that in mind.

Then, when the page for whatever they clicked comes up, have an announcement that you're out of stock, or will be launching soon, etc and they can enter their email on that page to be notified when the item is ready.

It still isn't money changing hands as 100% proof, but the intent to buy is more likely to have been there, so if you have 3 ideas you're testing, you'll see which one to work on first, given enough of a sample size.

 

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[AmazingLarry]

Read The Right It by Alberto Savoia

Goes through all sorts of great ways to validate an idea quickly and cheap.

 

[LamborghiniLin]

It's been a helluva long time since I read the Four-Hour Workweek. One of the few parts I really remember is Tim saying to put up the actual pages, so that when people click something on your site, they think they're actually going to be paying for it. Helps to have the price on whatever button they click, so they have that in mind.

Then, when the page for whatever they clicked comes up, have an announcement that you're out of stock, or will be launching soon, etc and they can enter their email on that page to be notified when the item is ready.

It still isn't money changing hands as 100% proof, but the intent to buy is more likely to have been there, so if you have 3 ideas you're testing, you'll see which one to work on first, given enough of a sample size.

That also sounds like a fun work around! Thanks for the hint!

 

[LamborghiniLin]

Read The Right It by Alberto Savoia

Goes through all sorts of great ways to validate an idea quickly and cheap.

Haven't heard about it, but just downloaded it. Thanks for the tip!

 

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