Validating product requirements is more important than anything else, trumping product features, team building, design and pricing. If there is no need for the product, then no one will use it and it will cost you time and money, making it all go down the drain. Here's what you should know before you invest money in finding someone.
1, Write down the problem, not a specific solution
You need to write down clearly the problems that you or other people often encounter, remembering to focus on the problem, not the solution, which comes later. The problem should be a simple statement, like the following.
1) Once the consumer leaves the restaurant, it is difficult to continue the service
2)It is difficult to know what the consumer is really doing until they are sure
3) Designing professional quality images for social media is almost impossible
Once you have an idea, refine the question until you can sum it up in one sentence.
2, Determine if it's the most important issue
It's easy to find the problem, but what's really valuable is the 'first level problem', i.e. the problem you want to solve is one of the three most important problems you think your potential users will face.
If your target user is the CEO of a small company, the first five problems might be something like
1) Have more sales
2) Making marketing more efficient (hiring a marketing executive)
3) Outsourcing salary and benefits tasks
4) Expanding product assortment
5) Better social media exposure and advertising input
If you want to launch a social media tool, you'll find that for CEOs it's not the first tier (top three) problem, it's number five. They will want to solve the first three problems first, so even if you have the best product, it won't appeal to them. If you can't solve the most important problem, users won't spend time and money for you.
This is probably the easiest problem for entrepreneurs to overlook; they always think their product is great and think that once users use it, they will know it's good. But users don't use it.
So how do you know if your problem is a Tier 1 problem? First you need to know who will buy your product, describe the possible user groups, for example something like this.
1) Company size: 100 to 500 people
2) Position: CEO or VP of Marketing
3) Location: North America
4) Industry: Retail, Technology and Hospitality
Then you need to find 20 to 50 potential users who meet these criteria, for example by going to LinkedIn and finding contacts and asking them by writing emails etc. if they would be willing to help you with a survey.
There are a few things to keep in mind when writing an email: keep it short and to the point, don't waste the person's time; agree a specific time and date to talk; contact three times more people than your target number, if you want 20 people then contact 60 as most probably won't reply.
After finding 20 people you can talk to about the problem you want to help solve, you need to start by listing at least 10 questions you want to ask to make the conversation purposeful and helpful, confirming the following.
1) they are indeed experiencing the problem you want
2) How big the impact of the problem is, i.e. whether it is a Tier 1 problem
3) How they can solve their current problem
4) whether they are willing to pay for a solution
After talking to about 5 people you may begin to know if what you are trying to solve is an important problem.
3, Evaluate existing solutions
After talking to dozens of people, you are likely to have learned about their current solutions. They may have talked about specific products and companies, or how to outsource these solutions. When digging deeper into this question, don't ask "which product do you currently use to solve this problem", as the person may not be using a specific product. You should ask "how do you solve the problem", and they may name a product, or they may cite a range of tools or processes to solve the problem.
Generally speaking, the problem you are trying to solve is probably being looked at by other companies. If there is at least one competing company that is doing a good job, this means you are targeting a larger market.
If no other company is solving the same problem, then you might want to pay attention. In most cases, this means your target market is too small or the problem you are trying to solve is too specific and has too few users.
4, Find the pain points in existing solutions
Whether the person you are communicating with is using an existing product or not, you need to find the pain points in the existing solution. If they are using a particular product, you need to find out what they think are the drawbacks? What's missing? What else is needed to solve the problem? 80% of the features in your product have to be up to par with similar products, but the other 20% have to be the best and different. When users compare your product to others, they will understand what the strengths of your product are.
If they're not using a particular product, then understand what they did to solve the problem. Did they use a set of tools? Or did they hire 2 extra people to solve the problem? In understanding this, you will find out what the pain points are.
5, Check if the user has a budget
If a competitor already exists in your target market, refer to their situation, for example, how fast are they growing? What is the number of users? What is their funding status? From there you will find out how to make the company grow.
In most cases, you will find that your competitors not only have a good product, but also have paying users. This means that someone will pay for the product they need and that the user has a budget.
You can also talk to some potential users to find out what they think about pricing. You don't need to know their exact psychological price point, just their initial reaction to paying to solve a problem. For example, you could ask, "If we could solve the problem you mentioned, what would be your opinion on the pricing of the product?"
The responses you get might be as follows.
1) They say outright how much they are willing to pay
2) Say a middle figure, which is not very clear
3) Say they don't want to pay
If the person says they don't want to pay, or is vague about the price, you can also ask in depth: why don't they want to pay? Budgetary issues? And like startups? Is the question that important? Mood issues?
It's worth noting, though, that even if the person says they're willing to pay, it doesn't mean they'll do so when your product comes out. But in any case, it's a good start, and at least it means the idea is good.
6,Let the interviewer define the product route
Assuming you've found a problem that needs to be solved and someone is paying for it, you probably already have the first dozens of users.
During previous communications you've talked to some users about product features, design, etc., and eventually some of them are likely to turn out to be your first paying users.
At this point you have a short feedback loop for them to help you improve your product and you've got users without paying a penny.
The final step
From now on, you can plan the product and build a quick prototype, just like any other company. But before writing code and hiring a designer, with a few simple steps you can already determine whether your idea has a chance of allowing you to build a company that generates revenue.
The barriers to entry in the tech industry are now low and making a product has become easy. But products don't make a company. Companies are made up of consumers who encounter problems and are willing to pay to solve them. Don't expect yourself to be the next unicorn; it's smarter to solve problems, especially business problems, which will make your product easier to sell.
