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Going from raw idea to product launch is much easier said than done.  In fact, coming up with ideas is the easiest part.  Validating your business idea is the hard part.  You’ll most likely be tempted to take that raw idea and launch it – as is – as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, that means your chances of succeeding are no better than winning the lottery.  

The problem is that you didn’t stop to investigate, research, and answer important questions to help your idea take shape.  Another obstacle is the limiting belief that your idea is THE idea and that it cannot change or improve.  In that case, you are a hammer in search of a nail.  At best you’ll start hammering anything you can find hoping you can find a market that will take your idea.  This is the reason why most ideas fail – they simply can’t iterate their way to a winning product-market fit.

A raw idea should be nothing more than one of many raw ingredients.  Think of it as the steak.  You still need to turn that raw piece of steak into a wonderful meal.  The raw and bloody steak alone isn’t a tasty dish and neither is your idea. 

You need to decide if you want to borrow an existing recipe (i.e. buy a franchise business) or maybe cook up something new and innovative.  If you choose the latter, you’ll perform a lot of tests, trials, experiments, and research until you develop the winning meal! 

The same goes for your business idea.  You ask questions like, for whom do I want to prepare and serve this meal?  Depending on the part of the world they’re from, they’ll have different preferences for how they will likely enjoy their steak.  You’ll draw inspiration from your intended audience and build for them and their unique tastes and preferences. 

In order to begin validating your business idea, you need to answer several key questions to help you figure out how to begin turning your raw business idea into a testable prototype or MVP (minimum viable product) and eventually a product you can fully launch into the world.

5 questions for Business Idea Validation

What problem does your idea solve?  Describe it in as much detail as you can and come up with examples or stories of that problem in action.

This is an important first question because your idea is only valuable if it does something valuable.  Solving problems is a great start when it comes to creating value for others.  This article is a good example of a solution that solves a problem.  After working with aspiring entrepreneurs for over a decade, I’ve come to learn that the majority will struggle to find customers simply because their idea doesn’t solve a problem.  This happens because the aspiring entrepreneur got to work on building their idea without taking a moment to consider this critical question.  

So think about your own idea.  If you were going to save the day for someone with your idea, what’s the problem you’d be solving?  Write out the problem so that someone else can picture it in their own mind.  Bonus: write it in such a way that someone can relate to and feel the pain of that problem.  This will come in handy when pitching your idea to people.

With your problem in mind, here’s the next question.

Who is experiencing the problem you solve?  There might be many different groups of people, so list them all out.  Be specific in your description of each group of people.

HINT: age isn’t the only way to group people and it’s actually not a great way either (more on this later). 

With your problem in mind, think about who, specifically, is experiencing that problem first hand.  While this problem may impact many layers of people, who is the primary person impacted or directly experiencing or running into the problem?  It’s tempting to think that everyone experiences your problem and that everyone can be your customer, however that is NEVER the case.  And even when you identify several groups, there is always one group that feels the problem the most or finds it more painful than the others.  

For instance, you might think that everyone would love Uber Eats because who doesn’t have the problem of wanting a meal from a specific restaurant and doesn’t have time to pick it up.  Or who doesn’t have the problem of wanting a meal when they are in a rush or don’t have time to cook?  However, if you think about it more deeply, there are people who see more value or less value in a product like Uber Eats.  I, for one, prefer to eat home cooked meals and if I eat out, I usually want the full experience.  So for me, even when I’m in a rush and need a meal solution, I’ll plan ahead so that I can bring something from home and heat it up later.  Alternatively, on a busy day I might plan to prepare a meal that doesn’t take as long to cook.  

Then, if I consider the increasing fees, I’m even less interested in ordering from Uber Eats.  What that means is that while I have ordered from Uber Eats a handful of times, I don’t see the pain of a busy evening or little time to cook as painfully as someone who perhaps doesn’t know how to cook or doesn’t worry as much about the quality of ingredients and other nutritional issues.  When I do my mental calculations, my pain is not so great that I would pay to have this problem solved.  

So as you think about the groups of people, be specific in how you describe them and then rank them by how painful this problem is for them.  If I end up in your list, make sure I’m at the bottom of the list!  This isn’t a painful pain point for me.

Now that you have a problem and a customer in mind, let’s dig into their motivations.  

What is the job-to-be-done of your ideal customer group?  In other words, what is the goal or task or project they were trying to achieve when they ran into the problem(s) you identified above?  

For instance, in the case of Uber Eats, an ideal customer might have been trying to get dinner because they had to stay late at work.  The goal was simply to eat a meal.  If that person’s friend or significant other would have offered to bring them a meal, they probably would have accepted because that was their ultimate goal.  Buying UberEats was not their goal, it was nothing more than a means to an end.  

The jobs-to-be-done framework essentially states that people hire products and services to help them get a job done.  Another way of putting is, you don’t want to buy a drill, you just want a hole in the wall.  

In business idea validation, your mission is to figure out what job your ideal customer was attempting when they ran into problems.  Here are some examples of companies and one or more of the jobs-to-be-done that they address.

• AirBnB – to experience the culture and connect with the people of a city; this transcends simply site seeing.
• Apple – to unleash your creative powers; to express yourself.
• Nike – to be the athlete you believe you can be or want to become.
• LV luggage – to effectively communicate your status; to appreciate craftsmanship.
• Luxury Watches – to celebrate or acknowledge an important milestone in your life; to signal your income level; to appreciate attention to detail.
• Fine Wine – to appreciate a beautiful and inspiring story; to share such a story with others; to host a special meal.

These aren’t pain points.  These are jobs to be done.  If you understand what someone really wants, in some cases, you can bypass the original problem and simply get them straight to their goal.  AirBnB is a great example.  They bypassed hotels and took you straight into someone’s home.  Suddenly you find yourself in the center of a city with your first friend (your host).  They point you to the places no tourist would ever hear about.  They warn you about places no local would ever be caught dead visiting.  And just maybe, they invite you to hang out with their friends.  Who needs a hotel when you can stay with a local and feel like a local!

With your ideal customers, their problems, and jobs-to-be-done all in mind, if you could have these folks speak to you for 30 minutes, what would you want to learn from them?  What business idea validation questions would you ask your ideal customer if they were willing to answer any question?

With the first three questions answered, it’s time to come up with your business idea validation learning goals.  What do you want to know?  Here are a few of my most favorite questions to ask:

Tell me about the last time you tried to [describe the job to be done]?  And listen fully to their story and periodically ask probing questions for additional details.

Tell me about the last time you encountered [the problem(s) you identified above]?  Again, listen fully to their stories.  Often, you find there are pain points or other goals they share in their stories that you never considered or they find to be more painful than your original hypotheses.  

How do you currently solve that problem or achieve that goal?  This is where you discover all the possible solutions your ideal customer is already engaging in, even if they are less formal or repurposed products and services. 

Probing them about these will help you learn what works, what doesn’t work, what they like or don’t like, what they want or don’t want, and what they wish was possible.

Lastly, where can you find these folks?  Where do they hang out?  Where do they gather?  You’ll need to know this so you can go find and talk to them.

Where your ideal customers gather and hang out will not only help you find them for the purpose of business idea validation, but it will also help you know where to put your marketing efforts.  

When you define this group clearly, it becomes a lot easier to figure out where they gather.  Showing up in these places can help your ideal customers get to know you.  There’s also an opportunity to be creative and show up in a gathering place that makes so much sense but competitors would never think of placing themselves.  That will give you a massive advantage.

For instance, you’d probably never expect to learn about babysitting services at the dentist.  But if that dentist sees a lot of kids, then their parents are all sitting in the same waiting room.  Just imagine making a deal with the dentist to place some of your flyers or ads there.  It’s not competing against their service and if you can do it in an entertaining way so they don’t get too bored waiting, then you really stand out where least expected.

Your Entrepreneurial Journey Starts Now

Too many promising ventures falter because founders skip the crucial early business idea validation steps, launching a “raw steak” into a market that isn’t ready. You don’t have to make that mistake. If you’re currently employed full-time, nurturing a business idea on the side, and you’re determined to build something that truly resonates with a market, then a strategic approach is non-negotiable. Don’t leave your venture’s success to chance. Book a discovery call today to delve into your stealth-stage opportunity and craft a clear roadmap to validation and launch.

Related Articles on Entrepreneurship & Business Idea Validation

How to Validate the Customer Problem Your Business Will Solve

30 Questions to Find the Problem Your Business Solves