What is the first step after getting a startup idea in 2020

The first thing you need to do is not build the product, not rent a place, not hire people.  The first thing you need to do is validate your idea. How do you do that? 

Here are some things you can do to validate your idea.  Follow the below steps in an orderly fashion

1. Talk to a few customers
2. Make detail notes of customer interviews along with the customer persona (contains age, location, job, income capacity as much information as you can) to describe the person
3. Analyze the customer interviews to find if your assumptions are valid. Check if customers are willing to pay for the solution you want to build
4. Ask your customers what they would like to see in the product.
5. Take these inputs to build a small version of proving the need

Let a few customers use your product and provide you feedback. Check with them the change they had in life before and after using their product. Did they find it useful if so how? What did they save?  Accordingly, the price of the product can be determined.

All this is good for software products. How do we do this for physical products?  For physical products platforms like Kickstarter can help. All you have to do is build a prototype of the physical product and try to create a compelling video story that explains your product. The need for physical products can be validated as there would be similar products in the market. Identify how your product is more valuable for the customer.  Low Price is not the only winning factor.

Executing is the key. The way to learn is to build quickly and iterate. Either you fail or learn fast. Then do this again and again to get the perfect match between your customer and product.  This is termed as product-market fit.  Product-market fit is not just a one-time thing. It is a journey.

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