There is always a point during the discussion of an idea for a new product, or service, when the killer question comes up: “But will it make any money ?” Stumble at this point and an onslaught of questions will follow: “Who is gong to buy it ?”, “Why will they buy it ?”, and so on until the idea is riddled and gasping. So what can be done ? - Preparation !
Over years of facing a barrage of questions about ideas for new products I have gathered the following series of questions that have helped me to prepare for those tricky moments:
What pain are you solving for the customer ? – Ideas about solving a customer’s pain are often more robust than those that address less pressing desires, therefore clearly identify how your idea is going to help.
What is the phrase that pays ? – The discipline of describing an idea and its business potential in a short phrase strips away the peripheral aspects and distills it to its essence. Your idea could be sumarised into an The Elevator Pitch for when you need to sell your idea in less than a minute!
Does the idea already exist ? - Enter Google search ( or other search engines of your choice ) - check that the idea is not already a product. My experience is that for every 100 ideas that I have had then 99 are already either under development or are products being sold. If the product already exists don’t give up ! Can your idea be adapted to be better than what is currently out there ?
What has changed to give rise to the opportunity ? – You need to point to specific changes in the competitive, technical or regulatory environment to explain the origin of your idea for a product. You need to be driven more than a simple desire to be an entrepreneur !
What do others think of your idea ? - It is important to get feedback from as many people as possible. But be careful. The feedback needs to be honest and constructive. One approach is The Mom Test which is a good way to ask potential customers about an idea in a way that gets constructive feedback. Similarly when you are asked for feedback think carefully what is being asked and how you will reply. When I give feedback on an idea I use the The Sandwich Feedback Technique: what is good about the idea, what isn’t so good, and what can be done to make the it better.
How big is the market ? – It is difficult to forecast the market for a new product with any real precision. However back-of-the-envelope calculations can provide a rudimentary estimate of market size and provide a check on overblown ambitions. Also, check out the size of the market that you are trying to enter and look at other products that are already there - why is your idea going to gain market share ?
If the idea involves new technology can it be developed in a ‘garage’ ? – How much of the new technology comes under your control e.g. software development, packaging,
hardware, processes etc. How are the development costs going to be kept down ? A useful approach to minimising startup costs is the
Lean Startupapproach, an in particular the Minimum Viable Product
where key aspects of the idea are demonstrated and learnings are gathered for further development.
There are many more questions that will help develop your idea into a new product but the ones above should help you prepare for a heavy storm of killer questions, and if it survives, then it will be strengthen for the next step in its journey to a successful product.