Your business ideas are failing, here is why.

[avafab]

Hi folks, I want to share with you a concept that I recently bumped into. I think this is very valuable for the kind of people who are on this forum. Whether you are a wannabe entrepreneurs who is struggling to find an idea or a serial entrepreneurs who has failed a few times, this is for you. If you are that kind of person who has many business ideas but none of them seems to be working, this is for you. Even worse, if you have already spent a fortune to build your product or service and the market does not seem to buy into it, this is for you.

Here is the concept: Pretotyping.

No it's not a typo. It's a made up word to explain a more sophisticated concept. Basically the concept is this:

create a fake product and get people to buy it before you build it.

In this way, you can actually validate how customers will react to your product and whether the market is ready for it. Also, building a fake product and running experiments is usually way way cheaper then building the whole thing. Sounds familiar? that's exactly what Elon Musk did when he sold Teslas before they were even built.

Alberto Savoia, a serial entrepreneur and Innovation Agitator Emeritus at Google, explains this technique very well with lots of use cases and examples (watch the video below).

Mastering this technique will help us avoiding failure and stop losing money. I myself spent a few thousands dollars on developing 2 apps that never really got any traction. If I knew this technique I would have spent nothing and focused all my time and energy on the right idea.

I am curious to know what you think about this concept and have an open discussion about the topic.

PS. @MJ, for the title, I used the advice you gave us on this thread. I hope it does not violate the forum policies.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

PS. @MJ, for the title, I used the advice you gave us on this thread. I hope it does not violate the forum policies.

Ha Ha, strong work!

 

[woken]

Here is the concept: Pretotyping.

Nice to finally put a name to it.

Have a look through the forum, you’ll see it recommended on every thread that fits the purpose.

This must also be addressed:
Go with the cheapest option.

If your physical product costs $400 to make and you can then use it for all your marketing and validation, don’t go spending $2k on a photorealistic 3d render.

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? Yet it happens, lol.


edit: went through the whole video.
favourite quote is “Fail Ferrari fast and Fiat cheap”

 

[MJ DeMarco]

create a fake product and get people to buy it before you build it.

In this way, you can actually validate how customers will react to your product and whether the market is ready for it. Also, building a fake product and running experiments is usually way way cheaper then building the whole thing. Sounds familiar? that's exactly what Elon Musk did when he sold Teslas before they were even built.

This pretty much is the Kickstarter model.... advertise and market your product as if it actually existed and when the market responds dig in and execute on its development. Thanks for the share and the vid.

 

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[theguy22]

I'm convinced by the idea but unsure how I can do this with an etsy product that I'm planning to launch? If I place a fake ad on etsy, and let's say it works and we get some orders, then what? I mean of course I can then go and create the product but they'll have to wait much longer and by then they'll cancel their order no?

 

[DukeDeValentino]

Hi folks, I want to share with you a concept that I recently bumped into. I think this is very valuable for the kind of people who are on this forum. Whether you are a wannabe entrepreneurs who is struggling to find an idea or a serial entrepreneurs who has failed a few times, this is for you. If you are that kind of person who has many business ideas but none of them seems to be working, this is for you. Even worse, if you have already spent a fortune to build your product or service and the market does not seem to buy into it, this is for you.

Here is the concept: Pretotyping.

No it's not a typo. It's a made up word to explain a more sophisticated concept. Basically the concept is this:

create a fake product and get people to buy it before you build it.

In this way, you can actually validate how customers will react to your product and whether the market is ready for it. Also, building a fake product and running experiments is usually way way cheaper then building the whole thing. Sounds familiar? that's exactly what Elon Musk did when he sold Teslas before they were even built.

Alberto Savoia, a serial entrepreneur and Innovation Agitator Emeritus at Google, explains this technique very well with lots of use cases and examples (watch the video below).

Mastering this technique will help us avoiding failure and stop losing money. I myself spent a few thousands dollars on developing 2 apps that never really got any traction. If I knew this technique I would have spent nothing and focused all my time and energy on the right idea.

I am curious to know what you think about this concept and have an open discussion about the topic.

PS. @MJ, for the title, I used the advice you gave us on this thread. I hope it does not violate the forum policies.

Hello Everyone,
I am wondering the same thing as the individual above. Would I just create a product on the computer, post it on amazon/social media, etc and check for feedback? Also, if I do happen to place this product say on Amazon they tend to be very strict about delivery times for 3rd party sellers. If someone purchases the product what do we do then? Haha

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

This pretty much is the Kickstarter model.... advertise and market your product as if it actually existed and when the market responds dig in and execute on its development. Thanks for the share and the vid.

I look at this as the MVP model, I think it was from lean startup? Though only problem with Kickstarter if ideas get stolen might be better to either get a patent first or talk to people in person about it I'd imagine?

 

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[avafab]

This pretty much is the Kickstarter model.... advertise and market your product as if it actually existed and when the market responds dig in and execute on its development. Thanks for the share and the vid.

Hi MJ,

I love Kickstarter but it comes with a few problems:
1. You are exposing your idea to the public. Everybody would know about it and potentially steal it.
2. If you have a bunch of people buying into your idea on Kickstarter, then you must execute it as it is described there. You are stuck with delivering what you promised.
3. On Kickstarter your don't really get people to try your product. The whole pretotype idea is to get people to try your product without knowing that it does not exist yet.

How do you do that? you got to be creative. Let's say you are a sushi restaurants and you have lots of leftovers that get trashed every day. Let's say you want to test whether people would buy sushi from the day before if it was at 50% off. You can just take a bunch of sushi boxes, relabel them as "second day sushi" and run a number of experiments. How many people are going to buy the "second day sushi"? that's your market validation. The author of these videos goes on with other examples and he claims that this can be used for any type of product or services (digital as well as physical products). You just need to create something that gives the illusion of using a real product or service, without crossing the ethical limit.

Alberto's answer on Kickstarter here (minute 1:25:15)

 

[avafab]

I'm convinced by the idea but unsure how I can do this with an etsy product that I'm planning to launch? If I place a fake ad on etsy, and let's say it works and we get some orders, then what? I mean of course I can then go and create the product but they'll have to wait much longer and by then they'll cancel their order no?

You could try but Etsy could ban your account for doing so. I would suggest you create a fake no-code website where people can click to buy. Then you run a short Facebook campaign to see how many comes to your site. When they click "buy", a page says "the product is not available, leave us your email and we will let you know when the product becomes available".

or even better, you could build a number of units and ask a local shop to sell them for you. The shop should be chosen depending on your product. If it's a vintage product then you need to find a shop that sells similar stuff. Then you spend a few days looking at how many people are buying it and validate your assumptions.

There is a concept called Hypo zooming that should help you reasoning around your case, more info in this video:
https://youtu.be/bKfBbYsJlZc

 

[avafab]

I look at this as the MVP model, I think it was from lean startup? Though only problem with Kickstarter if ideas get stolen might be better to either get a patent first or talk to people in person about it I'd imagine?

Yup. I answered to MJ with some thoughts about why Kickstarter is not optimal to test your business idea.

 

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[avafab]

Hello Everyone,
I am wondering the same thing as the individual above. Would I just create a product on the computer, post it on amazon/social media, etc and check for feedback? Also, if I do happen to place this product say on Amazon they tend to be very strict about delivery times for 3rd party sellers. If someone purchases the product what do we do then? Haha

Hi, I replied to @theguy22 with some ideas.

 

[watchopt]

create a fake product and get people to buy it before you build it.

Ha. I could of swore that is what the FIXD product, I bought a few weeks ago, did. Everything was perfect from the purchasing, onboarding for premium use, to support, and reviews. Sounded to good to be true and when I got the little device/box it would not work. Even after support. I thought: what if they did all this and mailed out a little box with electronics in it but it was hodgepodge and in hopes most people would just chunk it in the garage. I never got it to work and they gave me my money back. Anyhow, thanks for sharing.

 

[woken]

I'm convinced by the idea but unsure how I can do this with an etsy product that I'm planning to launch? If I place a fake ad on etsy, and let's say it works and we get some orders, then what? I mean of course I can then go and create the product but they'll have to wait much longer and by then they'll cancel their order no?

Go through the whole video. I’m familiar with etsy; you can always refund for no reason, what’s the problem with that?

It’s what we always recommend, just refund the customers. You’re then left, as per the video, with YODA. No point in explaining further if you don’t go through the whole
video.

You could try but Etsy could ban your account for doing so.

Etsy could ban you just for having a shop on their marketplace with no reason. This is not one of them though.

I love Kickstarter but it comes with a few problems:
1. You are exposing your idea to the public. Everybody would know about it and potentially steal it.

I have created a system to take care of my personal expenses so I could focus on building a business without having to worry about pulling money out of it.
Short story, I sell jewellery. I’ll give you the supplier. Hell, I’ll even sell you some of my products at the price I’m paying just to prove this to you. You won’t act on it.

Any idea you have can be easily replicated with minor changes, patent or not. If they do it better than you, kudos to them.

Not acting on your idea because you have no protection is against what this topic is about :
Fail Ferrari fast and Fiat cheap.
I am currently working on launching a kickstarter. I have no interest in getting a patent or protecting my idea. Chances are in my favour that people won’t put in the work I do to make this project happen.
My chances of succeeding are less than 10%.
So why on Earth would I get a patent now? It makes no sense lol.

You are stuck with delivering what you promised.

Nope. You can always underdeliver at the cost of losing customers and reputation. You can also not deliver if project fails at the same cost.

even better, you could build a number of units and ask a local shop to sell them for you.

Then, if it doesn’t work, you’re stuck with stock that you cannot sell and lost capital on developing a working product. It’s called pretendotype. If you have it on shelves it better work.

On Kickstarter your don't really get people to try your product. The whole pretotype idea is to get people to try your product without knowing that it does not exist yet.

You don’t need them to try it. You’re looking for your market validation.
And people on Kickstarter know damn well the products don’t exist yet. Every single video tells you that. That’s what Kickstarter is used for - bring non existent products to market.

 

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[avafab]

Ha. I could of swore that is what the FIXD product, I bought a few weeks ago, did. Everything was perfect from the purchasing, onboarding for premium use, to support, and reviews. Sounded to good to be true and when I got the little device/box it would not work. Even after support. I thought: what if they did all this and mailed out a little box with electronics in it but it was hodgepodge and in hopes most people would just chunk it in the garage. I never got it to work and they gave me my money back. Anyhow, thanks for sharing.

If that was the case, then they did it wrong. In this way you quickly lose your customer trust... forever. When you do this kind of experiments you should not break customer trust. Instead you should simply allow the customer to go through the purchasing process and then at the end saying that the product is not yet available. Then you can measure how many customers went through the process and validate your assumptions.

 

[Jacques141]

Hi folks, I want to share with you a concept that I recently bumped into. I think this is very valuable for the kind of people who are on this forum. Whether you are a wannabe entrepreneurs who is struggling to find an idea or a serial entrepreneurs who has failed a few times, this is for you. If you are that kind of person who has many business ideas but none of them seems to be working, this is for you. Even worse, if you have already spent a fortune to build your product or service and the market does not seem to buy into it, this is for you.

Here is the concept: Pretotyping.

No it's not a typo. It's a made up word to explain a more sophisticated concept. Basically the concept is this:

create a fake product and get people to buy it before you build it.

In this way, you can actually validate how customers will react to your product and whether the market is ready for it. Also, building a fake product and running experiments is usually way way cheaper then building the whole thing. Sounds familiar? that's exactly what Elon Musk did when he sold Teslas before they were even built.

Alberto Savoia, a serial entrepreneur and Innovation Agitator Emeritus at Google, explains this technique very well with lots of use cases and examples (watch the video below).

Mastering this technique will help us avoiding failure and stop losing money. I myself spent a few thousands dollars on developing 2 apps that never really got any traction. If I knew this technique I would have spent nothing and focused all my time and energy on the right idea.

I am curious to know what you think about this concept and have an open discussion about the topic.

PS. @MJ, for the title, I used the advice you gave us on this thread. I hope it does not violate the forum policies.

Sorta really late, but thank you a bunch! Sometimes I can just lose the ability to think up such things (a.k.a. forget how to be sneaky) and having an anchored point of information like this is really valuable. Saving this post for later!

 

[Giallo]

Great concept. I used this widely but just called it low-fidelity prototyping. It's a great creative exercise.

In physical product design the recipe is usually very simple: prototype as soon as possible, spending as little time and money as possible on every round of iteration while still being able to test your assumptions. Run qualitative interviews, share the prototypes and discuss them in depth. Every round of iteration will bring new learnings that can be used to build the next round of prototypes to test your new assumptions. The cycle repeats. Once all the assumptions around desirability are validated and you developed the product accordingly (diverging and converging), you should be feeling pretty good about a concept that resonates with the audience.

The pretotype can exist at all of these stages, especially when paired with visualisations that can help the audience to imagine how this would be in reality.

I love the slide that shows all the pretotyping typologies (21:44). We built a lot of them on many projects for our clients to fail and learn fast. For instance, to experience a new physical product you can hack different existing products together; to test a digital interface you can use still images instead of having to design a functioning interface flow; to show a future concept you can build a private landing page, and populate it with renders to showcase all the features and vision for the brand. No need to make it fully public if your goal is to just test desirability. The pretotype needs to change according to what you are trying to learn.

 

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