IDEAS. EXECUTION. GETTING THINGS DONE.

11 Ways to Refine your Product Idea ( and get early users )

Posted on Tuesday, July 10th 2012. Written by Michal Ugor

I am entrepreneur who occasionaly blogs on this website. I run BoomLink a London based creative technology company. You can follow my updates at @fortunepick

You've got a great startup idea or you've defined a problem worth solving but you need a market feedback to validate if the problem is worth solving or define what features are worth building.

Here are 11 (mostly free) ways you can use to collect feedback and get early customers.

1. Starbucks Test

1. Walk into the nearest Starbucks and pick a random person
2. Tell them your brother is about to start a business and you would like to buy them a cup of coffee if they'll give you an honest feedback.

cost: $20, tools: pen and paper, set of questions

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2. AdWords Campaign

1. Set up a simple sign-up landing page with short and clear description of your product/problem it solves.
2. Add Google analytics tracking ( If you use launchrock or unbounce - both provide simple analytics )
3. Use free Google AdWords to drive traffic to your site
4. Check the conversions (10% is OK) and follow up with a simple survey

cost: $0 - $50, tools: Google AdWords, Unbounce, Launchrock, SurveyMonkey

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3. Beta Signup Page (similar to adwords campaign but without ads)

1. Set up a simple sign-up landing page with short and clear description of your product.
2. Submit your site to likes of Betali.st you can find a decent list of such sites in this Quora post
3. Check the conversions (10% is OK) and follow up with a simple survey

cost: $0, time, tools: Betali.st and similar, Unbounce, Launchrock, SurveyMonkey

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4. Use Survey Tools to Get a Feedback

1. Create a simple survey and ask your friends to complete it / get a good friend to ask her friends to fill it.
2. Use a paid tool like PickFu (4 polls / 50 answers each for $49)

cost: $0-49, tools: SurveyMonkey, PickFu

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5. Linkedin Polls

1. Find relevant groups on Linkedin (where your target market is)
2. Create a simple poll with a question

cost: $0, tools: Linkedin

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6. Ask Hacker News

1. What really helps if you're collecting feedback online is a brief demo video or at least a slideshare presentation.
2. Submit your demo ( or landing page ) to HackerNews and ask for feedback just like dropbox did here (their initial landing page included demo video and simple signup form)
3. Other social news sites like Reddit are also great

cost: $0, tools: Animoto, GoAnimate (free animated demo videos), Slideshare
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7. Forums

1. Go to forums relevant to your product/service and create a new topic asking for feedback.
2. Watch the comments.

cost: $0, tools: Google search filter
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8. Use ohours / get 30 minutes with the most successful entrepreneur you know

1. Get in touch with the most successful entrepreneur you know.
2. Invite her for lunch or a drink and pitch her the idea.
3. Alternatively, use ohours and book a meeting with investors, professionals or entrepreneurs. (some great people are using this site. (you cane meet some really useful people e.g I recently booked a personal meeting with TechCrunch Europe editor Mike Butcher)

Note: This test will not validate whether your product will sell, but you’ll likely get challenged on the grounds of finance, distributions, tech etc (take bio gasoline for example - there is a demand for alternative energy, yet this product is not viable as current energy is way cheaper)

cost: $50 ( depends on venue ), tools: Ohours, Slideshare, Balsamiq (you might want to prepare a presentation or draw some prototype)
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9. Ask Other Entrepreneurs / Investors

1. Use sites like Quora or Linkedin and message some relevant entrepreneurs for feedback on your idea. People on niche sites are usually more responsive.
2. Make it personal, know who you are connecting with - nobody likes generic messages

Note: They can instantly pick on flaws or connect you with some relevant resources or people that might help. Please don’t be afraid of someone stealing it, I can assure you, no one will do it.

cost: $0, tools: Linkedin, Quora, alternatives
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10 . Direct Emailing

Tony Hsieh (and many others) got his first 30 customers through direct emailing and later sold his company for $265 mil to Microsoft (before founding Zappos)

1. Research your potential customers, find relevant people ( who will make decisions on buying your product ) and their direct email addresses
2. Send them a personal message - tell them you’re developing a product that will help their work and ask them for feedback
3. Never send generic or spammy messages (write as If you were talking to a friend or someone you know)

cost: $0, tools: Google search, Linkedin
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11. Go to Meetups and Talk to People

1. Find relevant meetups, events or conferences in your area
2. Make sure you have some business cards with your website and linkedin/ twitter profile ( smartphone works well too ) and your elevator pitch ready - infographic
3. Talk to people, get their feedback, exchange ideas and business cards - ask them if they would like to be notified when you launch - if yes add them to your subscriber list when you get home

cost: $0, tools: meetup.com, Crafting a Killer Startup Pitch, vistaprint

Few tips before you start:

1. Have something to show - a simple prototype, landing page or a short presentation

2. Learn to describe your product idea in one simple sentence a 5 year old would understand ( don’t try to impress - leave out jargon, focus on the problem it addresses)

3. Have a set of few simple questions prepared, read this thread on Quora to get some ideas.

4. Have a clear purpose in mind - one problem you aim to solve, one key feature you want to define/validate. Don’t approach your potential users with Facebook meets Groupon meets Quora meets Space-X ideas.

5. Forget about someone stealing your idea - capable people have their own ideas and hard time on executing them - incapable people are not a threat at all.

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