🙅‍♂️ Oops, I messed up. What I SHOULD HAVE DONE, day 1.

(2 minute read)

Hello! 🙋‍♂️

Quickly, let me run through a few mistakes I made with this site we have here, and what you should do differently.

Sponsored Partner

🚀 What I Have Done Wrong, and What You Should Do Instead.

Let’s run through quick list of what I have learned over the last several months growing ValidatorAI.com. You should apply everything below to your idea…

1️⃣ Discover the PROBLEM in the market, first.

At the beginning I was WAY too focused on my ideas. What if we made this… and then what if this happened… etc. Don’t fall in love with your original idea.

It took me several months to take a step back and ask myself: What is the real problem that the members of this community are facing?

In order to answer that, I should have done this:

2️⃣ Talk to your audience early and often.

It took me a while to gather the nerve to start reaching out to users of our free tool. I didn’t want to bother anyone. A newsletter was a fairly non-intrusive way to connect. But I should have taken it further.

I should have started reaching out to users to gather their feedback from day one. I’m on it now, but I missed out on information that could have shaped the direction of this service a lot sooner.

Polls and surveys aren’t enough. Talking one to one is the way to go.

✔ I should have found out why each person is here.

✔ What goals they are looking to accomplish.

✔ How our little AI tool might assist in that.

✔ What else is lacking that we could provide.

✔ What obstacles are in their way — what is preventing someone from moving forward and accomplishing their goals?

It’s a treasure trove of buyer motivation, and I left it on the table too long.

This helps you:

3️⃣ Validate demand early.

You learn this from step 2 above. Once you figure out the real problem (#1) and talk to customers (#2) you can start to lay out potential solutions for these customers. The idea brainstorming process shouldn’t start until you do #1 and #2 above.

Once you have a handful of solutions for the problem you uncover, then it’s time to revisit these early users and determine if you’re on the right track. Once you land on a solution that seems to be a fit, you can start to figure out the level of demand there may be for this product.

You determine demand by doing this:

4️⃣ Charge users early.

We all hate to ask other people for money. But, if you’re providing a solution to a key problem, there is nothing wrong with monetizing that opportunity. That’s business 101.

I was extremely reluctant to charge the users for any product. I want to help every person that visits our site, and it felt wrong to charge a fee.

But you can prove demand (and ensure you’re solving a major pain point) if you ask for a fee for your product or service. 

If users readily hand over money for your solution, you will have proven demand.

And this proves demand in a way that a survey or questionnaire cannot.

NOTHING will provide more insight for your startup than people opening their wallets to obtain your solution.

If I would have done this…. then my next step would have been:

5️⃣ Quickly build an MVP.

If you have proven there is serious interest for your solution, you should take the next step and build an MVP. The product in #4, above, could be anything small. A PDF with information, a membership in a community. Something simple that shows willingness to pay.

#5 is an actual product. 

This MVP is the first version of what you have in mind. But, stripped down… major features removed… only the core benefit remaining. This helps validate demand even further and it is the one true way to find out if you are on the right track.

Another thing I missed:

6️⃣ Create a community and social media profiles, immediately.

Getting users together and talking can only benefit you. They’ll talk about their key problems, and they’ll let you know where they are in their customer journey. You’ll find out if people are all stuck on the same step, or if they are all over the place.

Engaging on social media helps in the same way. Create content around your expertise and monitor the comments. People will tell you (in the comments) what they need help with. It’s a non-intrusive way to learn from your customers, while providing value.

I created our Tik Tok, and other socials a while ago, but I waited way too long to start the Discord community.

By the way…

🤩 Check out our Tik Tok Here

🤩🤩 Our YouTube is Pretty Awesome Too

📢 We’re Days Away From Our First Product!

That’s it for today. I hope this helps you move forward.

👉 Please do join the community on Discord. We have a core group of serious startup founders so far.

⏩ Don’t forget to forward this email to your friend that likes startups too.

⌨ Reply to this message and let me know what you're working on!

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Follow along on social media for a daily dose of startup advice. Social media links are below. 👇 👇 👇