Best Way To Validate a Business

A founder who tries to validate a business via surveys, market research, interviews, and focus groups will struggle because your validation will end at the Needs and Expectation phases. Greatness comes when you can validate at the Perception phase. For that to happen, you need to answer the following: Why, How and What. 

At Why, you conceptualize the Problem and Market Fit, crafting a product Demo, planning how to Sell and what to Build. 

At the How , you think of the minimalist version of that Build. You Measure it, Learning from the experience.

The outcome of that learning is the MVP (minimum viable product). MVP, using set theory, is the overlapping region between all possible products and the market. In other words, the minimum product that makes it into the market, viably. The MVP is your product/market fit region, and with that, you have got a product that satisfies a market. 

That MVP is the business validation because it is VIABLE even in its minimalist stage. Forget the surveys, focus groups, etc unless they are integrated to help you get to the MVP and attain product/market fit at scale. This tracks Minimum Viable Demand (MVD).

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment: So what questions does the market survey/research ask different from Why, What, and How? Is perception not factored into market surveys/research? Is perception all that sustains sales and brand loyalty? Does perception end with MVP development ? Is MVP tested outside the focus group or target market? Is perception measured only after building MVP? How is MVP perception different from focus group/target market expressed want, in other words, is the MVP built outside the wants/needs of the target market or focused group? Please update me because it seems I am still in the analogue space in this business.

My Response: Watch the video – you will answer these questions. You can be a typical founder by using surveys. But you become a legend by CREATING a new world.  A world that never existed which people may not even pick in surveys. Steve Jobs did not use surveys because he was of the opinion that even users do not know what they want. But when you open a new world, through great products, they come along.

The  iPhone was rejected by Verizon but it won in markets. My point is this, if you want to be a GREAT Founder,  you have to create a world no one can imagine now, and that comes not by asking people questions in the ways we do in focus groups. Rather, you go out and seed a new world none ever imagined. That is the real new basis of competition and that is the Perception demand. 

How do you expect someone to offer an opinion in a world they cannot conceive? That was why Verizon leaders did not see value in the iPhone prototype. But when the MVP got into the market, they called back . Apple then told them that it was all in AT&T. Watch the video on click.

Comment 1: Does the MVP represent the final product? If not, how do you determine the final product or solution

My Response: MVP does not represent the final product. MVP is simply the least viable product in the market. If it is least and fails, that means it is not viable. Understand that Google, Facebook, etc are still building their products despite having launched decades ago. The point is this: MVP is not final but the least viable form of a product.

Understanding Minimum Viable Demand (MVD) for Digital Startups

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