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Before you consider any development work or hiring people, you need to validate your idea. This is the starting point from which you will learn and evolve.

One of the biggest risk with missing this critical phase is, ultimately, you build the wrong solution and waste money, months or years creating something nobody needs or wants.

So, how can you reduce this risk and rapidly validate the problem prior to validating the solution?

Follow these 10 steps before moving onto the next stages or involving outside help.

This is the formula used by successful new product innovators, inspired by the Lean Startup process.

1. List the top 3 problems your new product idea could solve

This is the starting point to launch your research for how your product can help users. At this point, consider each problem to be a hypothesis.

2. Identify possible markets and customer segments

Who are the people your idea would serve? How could they be broken into groups? What factors define them?

3. Define your early adopters

Who are potential early adopters for your idea? How can they be grouped or differentiated from other potential users?

4. Assess the size and accessibility of possible markets

Do your best to estimate the size of the markets you could appeal to. Ballpark figures are fine. How “reachable” are they?

5. Conduct online problem research

Tap into groups and forums online where people are discussing the problems you are targeting. Check: Facebook, LinkedIn groups, Reddit, Quora, industry-specific forums.

6. Conduct problem interviews

Identify a panel of 10–20 potential early users to talk to about the hypothesized problems. (Don’t discuss solutions yet.) Go for quality over quantity.

7. Identify direct competitors

Check out existing tools/solutions to the problems. Check: directories, GetApp, G2 crowd, forums. Keep a list of places you find competitors as you will eventually want to be listed there, too.

8. Identify indirectly competing solutions

What other ways are potential customers solving the problem now? Have they made their own solutions? What other pieces might you need to integrate with?

9. Determine an initial pricing model

Set an initial range for pricing, so you can test it in your next round of interviews.

10. Calculate basic costs (your budget)

Set up a spreadsheet and perform at least some basic calculations. Consider cost of personnel, product development, marketing, support, operations, infrastructure, and so on.

Want to learn more about everything you need to consider from your first idea through research, planning, development, launch and growth? This is where Sparkplug comes in, visit our website and download or request a copy of our FREE guide, for a systematic process in checklist form that will guide you through every stage of taking your new software product from an idea to a thriving business model.

Ultimately, we want to help you reduce the likelihood that you build the wrong solution. In a matter of weeks, we can fundamentally help reduce that risk and provide you with further certainty you are on the right path to solve a problem people are willing to pay for, using our unique evidence-driven problem validation framework. Or you would simply know if you’re flogging a dead horse!

Our aim is to give you FREE resources, materials and professional mentorship you need to be successful in your product development journey. As well as share our passion about them!