How do you test an idea?

[BeefCattle]

To become a millionaire you would to have 20,000 people each give you $17 a month for at least 3 months.

Now let's say I have an idea that can fulfill that requirement and fulfill a need/desire and provide at least 20,000 people with some value.

How would I go about testing it so that I don't have to waste thousands of hours and dollars and have all my efforts go down the drain simply because I didn't do any proper planning

 

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[Roli]

To become a millionaire you would to have 20,000 people each give you $17 a month for at least 3 months.

Now let's say I have an idea that can fulfill that requirement and fulfill a need/desire and provide at least 20,000 people with some value.

How would I go about testing it so that I don't have to waste thousands of hours and dollars and have all my efforts go down the drain simply because I didn't do any proper planning

What's the idea?

Lolz, only joking

Test it via Google/Amazon/Facebook.

Basically the idea of testing is to see if the market like your idea, so figure out how you're going to sell this idea, and then test it that way. Without telling us what it is, can you give a clue as to what market it is? It sounds subscription based, if you can fill in the gaps, I'm sure you'll get some good, and more complete advice than this.

 

[Joe Cassandra]

To become a millionaire you would to have 20,000 people each give you $17 a month for at least 3 months.

Now let's say I have an idea that can fulfill that requirement and fulfill a need/desire and provide at least 20,000 people with some value.

How would I go about testing it so that I don't have to waste thousands of hours and dollars and have all my efforts go down the drain simply because I didn't do any proper planning

If you already have an idea that fulfills a need for 20,000, then you've already answered the question. You only test ideas if you aren't sure if there's a market for it.

Perhaps I misunderstood you and you aren't sure if your idea fulfills a need, then that's another thing...

WHAT TO DO:

1. Go to Unbounce.com and sign up for a 30-day free trial.

2. Put together a nice looking landing page teasing the solution to your idea. For example, say you invented a machine that makes a turkey and cheese sandwich automatically (mayo and all). You'd set up a page with the headline: LUNCH IN 30 SECONDS!

3. On the page, you'd write some copy about why your turkey making wonder-vention will put Subway out of business while also saving the consumer money and getting deli-tasting subs from the comfort of home.

4. Make at least 5 variations of this page with different ideas (REQUIRED).

5. First, post on Facebook so your friends can see.

6. Post on forums (take out a cheap ad here at the FLF ---what like $30 for a small ad right?)

7. Find the top food blogs on the web and email them your idea and description of the product. See if they will give you a mention in their next post

8. Reach out to local media reports...they're always hunger for a good filler story

9. Start the ad campaigns. Facebook and Instagram. (start with one). Spend a few bucks a day driving traffic to the landing page and seeing how many opt-in.

10. Get enough opt-ins (say 100). Open a Kickstarter. Push the Kickstarter to your list.

11. Push to your family.

12. If this is still working, start pre-selling to businesses. They'd love this in the breakroom.

13. Business.

 

[sparechange]

sorry but this post is extremely horrible, go out and do it..failure is a huge part of business. if there was a risk free way to go out and make millions of dollars nobody would be doing grave yard shifts at mcdonalds bud. no risk no reward.

go make a sale and go from there, ideas are worthless. i have the idea of inventing a time machine...i could sell that for 900 trillion dollars if i wanted to, but if its not executed its useless.

go make 1 sale, then scale the SOB then you can make millions

it all starts with ONE sale/client

 

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[Alexlewter]

To become a millionaire you would to have 20,000 people each give you $17 a month for at least 3 months.

Now let's say I have an idea that can fulfill that requirement and fulfill a need/desire and provide at least 20,000 people with some value.

How would I go about testing it so that I don't have to waste thousands of hours and dollars and have all my efforts go down the drain simply because I didn't do any proper planning

If the idea is related to generating money, ask these two simple questions:

Would someone WANT to pay?
Are they ABLE to pay?

Let's test this with three ideas. I'll keep them deliberately vague.

A tool that helps charities generate money
A course that helps lawyers learn to breakdance
A video that teaches doctors how to pass an exam

In the first idea, the charity wants to generate money, but charities usually have a small budget. They want the product, but they aren't often able to pay. The idea fails.

In the second idea, lawyers are rich and very able to pay, but few of them probably want to breakdance. Shame. The idea fails.

The final idea makes more sense: the doctor has an exam to pass and they have the means to afford it. The idea passes.

These are extreme examples, but try applying it to anything you're given to market. The ones to pursue are the ones that pass these two questions.

My final tip? Make sure it's in a niche market, and you just won a lot of money.

 

[jasoneh]

How would I go about testing it so that I don't have to waste thousands of hours and dollars

The best thing I ever did was stop guessing at what my (potential) customers wanted and started asking them what they wanted. (As the entrepreneur sometimes you have to find the common threads and real desires underneath what they tell you.) Once I had what they wanted, I asked for the money. That's the only validation that I can think of -- someone giving you their credit card.

How do you ask them? Get on the phone (skype) with them! Don't waste your time on online surveys, PPC ads or Unbounce or FB ads, etc. The gold is in the follow-up questions you can ask them immediately. Also, can you get 12 people to PAY you for your product or service (even before it's created)? If so, go forth. If not, stop now. Because if you can't find 12 customers while you are able to answer their questions/objections/concerns about your product then there is no way you'll get 20,000 customers.