How does one narrow down their idea to a specific niche?

[Sisyphus]

So I am in this incubator at my university and my team has been formed for a week or so now. We are still at the early stages of our product validation process.

We have a general idea of our target demographic and we noted some interesting problems we could solve. But the problem is that we could never narrow down to one specific problem that everyone agrees on. We keep on iterating the idea and never decide on anything.

I understand the basics of the lean startup methodology that at this point it is necessary to keep pivoting our ideas. But there must be some objective standard that can be used to validate ideas.

What would these standards be?
What should we be doing so we can find a good starting point?
I guess A/B testing? Surveys? Interviews?
How long is the brainstorming period usually before people actually start working on stuff?
Is it better to test multiple ideas in the very beginning and filter them as time goes on?
Or is it better to start out with one idea and iterate over time?

Thankkksss~~

 

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[JDM]

'We have a general idea of our target demographic and we noted some interesting problems we could solve"

I think you're going about it the wrong way. Forget who your target market it, forget A/B testing and all of that stuff at the moment. Focus on the problem and providing a solution and then worry about target markets and A/B testing.

Starting point should be a common pain point that all of your group members agree with. If you don't all agree, it's a sign that your pain point and solution are not as ground breaking as you would like. You should be aiming for solutions where people are going 'wow, why didn't I think of that?'. Once you have found the paint point and the solution, everything else will follow. You won't be needing to ask how to niche down.

 

[Aidan]

we could never narrow down to one specific problem that everyone agrees on

This seems more of a communication issue. You should all work on understanding eachother, before working toward a common goal.

Why do some of your group members disagree with idea A, and agree with idea B? Vice Versa. Everyone should have valid points for their opinions, and should be able to substantially back those opinions up. If they can not, then that opinion is not a very good one.

I don't know how many people are in your group, or what they are like, but some people just have awful ideas, and can get stubborn when they don't get their way; I hope this isn't the case with any of your group members.

 

[Cynthia Nataline]

I think because you've got your target market and demographics, here are the things I recommend you to do, so that your answers will all be based on the facts, instead of just a conclusion from group decision:

1. Find where your target market congregates
2. Survey them by asking what's their biggest fear, what they want to avoid and what they want to achieve.
3. Find the most common answer (here you'll find which problem to solve)
4. Find their emotional "hot button" (what words they usually use, what triggers them emotionally)
5. You can even arrange a teleseminar/webinar/Google Hangout to simply have them consult with you and have you suggest your solution (consider this a mini test of your product because these people are your buyers as well as the representative of your buyers)

After this, you'll have:
1. What THEY think is the most urgent problem THEY want to solve
2. The "hot button" to be used in your product name as well as throughout your marketing materials
3. Their language when sharing their stories/problems so they'll find your marketing stands out and feel that "you get it" or "this is exactly what I need"
4. Beta testers that can give you testimonials which will really help your product launch/sales.

In short, let your target market tells you what they want to buy, then give it to them. It's about what they want to buy, not what you want to sell. Hope it helps.

 

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