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Breaking it down - "If you spend your time building something instead of conning in coffee shops, you can put a minimum viable product in front of someone" FA

Breaking it down - "If you spend your time building something instead of conning in coffee shops, you can put a minimum viable product in front of someone" FALSE. I used to say that, until I think it was Harj who corrected me. His reasoning (paraphrased) was along the lines of "you'll spend 3-5 years if it's a great idea, wasting a few days/weeks pausing & checking your assumptions is insignificant time in the long run. It makes sense to spend few minutes/days making sure I don't waste weeks, months or even years. Option A: Mechanical Turk MAYBE. It depends on your audience. If you are InDinero building a service for small businesses, it does not make sense to ask MTurk to vet your feature set. They're not your target audience. Option C: Get people to pay/commit to it MAYBE. I bet I could ask 30 of my closest friends to commit simply because psychologically, people want to help. People will feel warm and fuzzy by giving you a few bucks to help you build your idea. Ask a business to commit $1,000+ - that's real validation.

richcollins 16y ago
Talking to people without a product doesn't always work. Most people can't imagine what it would be like to use a product, so they can't reliably tell you if they would use/pay for it.
wmeredith 16y ago
Breaking down why you're wrong about why I'm wrong :-) A) 3 to 5 years to MVP? You're doing it wrong. B) No solution is perfect for every situation, I'll concede that. It doesn't make me wrong. In fact it assures that what I said will be right, at least some of the time. I'm being snarky, but the point is, of course MTurk isn't going to work for every application. Use some judgment. Maybe the coffee shop thing would work better for you, I just think other alternatives are more worthy of investigation. C) Once again, you're doing it wrong. You got it there at the end though. Ask businesses or real potential customers to commit, not you're closest friends. In what scenario would that route work?
- dshankar 16y ago
  A. MVP usually takes at least a month if not more. Do you want to waste a full month of your life? That could be avoided by 30 minutes of talking to future customers. B. & C. - "Maybe" - not wrong, just maybe. There needs to be emphasis on "real potential customers." I've made the mistake of thinking I'm doing something great because friends (who might buy it) liked the idea. Just trying to point out the need for honest feedback. (Sorry if I came off as snarky ;) apologies)
  - wmeredith 16y ago
    No worries, publishing on the Internet for years has given me quite a thick skin. I'm also always willing tondo use counterpoints. It's the best way to refine an argument, or startup idea for that matter.
nanijoe 16y ago
So what do you think is the proper way to validate your ideas before you commit time and effort to building the product?
- dshankar 16y ago
  Build a prototype and explain the vision. Prototypes are useful in so many ways - validating & going to users, pitching & getting investors, etc. Prototypes should take a few days or a week to build, unlike MVP which probably takes months (or more).

richcollins 16y ago

Talking to people without a product doesn't always work. Most people can't imagine what it would be like to use a product, so they can't reliably tell you if they would use/pay for it.

wmeredith 16y ago

Breaking down why you're wrong about why I'm wrong :-) A) 3 to 5 years to MVP? You're doing it wrong. B) No solution is perfect for every situation, I'll concede that. It doesn't make me wrong. In fact it assures that what I said will be right, at least some of the time. I'm being snarky, but the point is, of course MTurk isn't going to work for every application. Use some judgment. Maybe the coffee shop thing would work better for you, I just think other alternatives are more worthy of investigation. C) Once again, you're doing it wrong. You got it there at the end though. Ask businesses or real potential customers to commit, not you're closest friends. In what scenario would that route work?

dshankar 16y ago
A. MVP usually takes at least a month if not more. Do you want to waste a full month of your life? That could be avoided by 30 minutes of talking to future customers. B. & C. - "Maybe" - not wrong, just maybe. There needs to be emphasis on "real potential customers." I've made the mistake of thinking I'm doing something great because friends (who might buy it) liked the idea. Just trying to point out the need for honest feedback. (Sorry if I came off as snarky ;) apologies)
- wmeredith 16y ago
  No worries, publishing on the Internet for years has given me quite a thick skin. I'm also always willing tondo use counterpoints. It's the best way to refine an argument, or startup idea for that matter.

nanijoe 16y ago

So what do you think is the proper way to validate your ideas before you commit time and effort to building the product?

dshankar 16y ago
Build a prototype and explain the vision. Prototypes are useful in so many ways - validating & going to users, pitching & getting investors, etc. Prototypes should take a few days or a week to build, unlike MVP which probably takes months (or more).