Fill or Kill

05.02.2016 |

Episode #7 of the course How to Validate an Idea by Ryan Kulp

 

Today we’re going to discuss key learnings.

If you’ve been following along, by now you’ve created a one-page business plan, gathered customer feedback from your target audience, formulated a key metric by which to measure the success of your new endeavor, and deployed a v1 offering of your product or service.

Phew. That’s a lot of progress for just 6 days of part-time idea validation.

So what’s next? Well, it’s actually time to go back to the drawing board.

And I know what you’re thinking—we’re just getting started! But a critical juncture you should visit at this point is what we call “Fill or Kill.”

In fact, you should visit this topic often while growing any business, working for any company, or generally spending time and resources on any endeavor, for profit or otherwise.

If you watched Sinek’s TED Talk “Start with Why” from Day Two, you know that great businesses are built on a foundation of meaning and purpose, not just margins and profits.

So ask yourself these questions, based on feedback received from yesterday’s soft launch:

1. Do I still feel like I’m solving a real problem?

2. Am I motivated to continue pursuing this idea, even if it means sacrificing my limited free time?

3. Would I invest my own money into making this idea successful?

To be honest, the third question is the most important here. In the life of an entrepreneur, there will be many days where you question the viability of your idea and potentially even lose motivation to continue working on it. And that’s perfectly OK.

But what isn’t OK is if you aren’t willing to put “skin in the game” to bring your idea to fruition. We discussed in Day One the “Wantrepreneur” mentality of expecting external help without putting forth the personal resources to prove something works first.

Today is a crossroads for you to make that decision.

If the answer to at least two of the three questions above is a resounding “Yes,” stay tuned tomorrow for insights on how you can intelligently invest resources into your idea without breaking the bank.

If you need inspiration or are unsure about continuing, check out these incredible stories about part-time entrepreneurs. They’re everyday people who have created successful business ranging from yoga to mobile apps.

If you do not want to pursue your idea further, that’s OK too. Great entrepreneurs cut their losses early and move on to the next venture. You only need to be right once.

 

Recommended book

“The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers” by Ben Horowitz

 

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