App Idea Validation - score your ideas in 10 steps

Intro to this section - the 10 steps to scoring your idea objectively

To explore scoring an idea, how about a live example of a Saas platform that manages the operational function for a car mechanic - an idea I was exploring with friends recently:

• Users can book through a chatbot appointments automatically

• Users can pay online instead of in person

• Mechanics are automatically informed of a car history and previous service (OCR)

• Mechanics can order parts and check information by asking Alexa (voice)

Lots more it could do… let’s call idea “Mechanic.IO”

More details are in the final section around Tech Innovations.

For now, find in the Resources your own Idea Scoring template.

Real life example of why scoring your ideas is key and COVID-19 watershed moment.

If there is a problem that affects you, your friends, family, co-workers, etc., then chances are it affects people you don't know as well.

How is your business different than others in the marketplace?

Your business may solve a complicated problem, but you should be able to explain it in simple terms so that anyone can understand it. This also means you’re clear on what the problem you’re trying to solve.

Test it — not just with friends who will be too polite to tell the truth, but with honest members of your ideal target audience, and then listen to the feedback.

An idea is just an idea until you have a paying customer attached to it. Anyone can discredit a simple idea, but no one can discredit paying customers.

Start by focusing on a niche market you know that can be served better. Make sure the market is large enough and that you can serve those customers better than their alternatives.

Once you have determined that you are solving a legitimate problem in a scalable way, you need to determine not only the value that it delivers to the world but also what people would pay for that value.

Building the business/ tech/ app is only the beginning. Many entrepreneurs fail to think past the build and onto their market approach and target custom acquisition strategy.

If you're not open to changing or adapting your idea to fit what your customers want, your business idea might not be worth pursuing. You may need to take a step back and think about whether you want to become a successful entrepreneur.

Your business will likely take up all of your time, so make sure you're passionate enough about it to make it successful!

So how did our idea score? This lecture walks through the attached completed Scoresheet for Carmechanic.IO.

If you've not used it yet, in the Resources is a link to your own Idea Score Sheet.

A business plan in 1 page - clear & succinct.

This exercise forces you to evaluate in more details how to move your idea forward and builds on what you've learnt thus far on your idea.

• What do you personally want to get out of this? What are you ready to sacrifice to make this work? What does success look like for you?

• What do your Users want to get out of using your solution? What will make them happy? What makes this a true Must Have in their lives?

Let’s say you’re at a dinner party and one of the guests asks you, “So, what do you do?” Can you answer in one sentence so that they understand your company?

The purpose of personas is to create reliable and realistic representations of your key audience segments for reference. These representations should be based on qualitative and quantitative user research and web analytics.

Startups are aiming to disrupt traditional businesses by leveraging technology and solving the problems of users — often walking through a door left open by traditional businesses.

In this segment, I will be going through all the different tech innovations that you need to be aware of and giving examples for someone interested in the car mechanic / servicing niche (it's always more interesting to have a context!).

Keep your idea in mind as you read these and jot down any opportunities you may think of.

Similar to a live chat but uses artificial intelligence and natural language analysis to understand a user request (“What will the weather be today?” = “Today’s weather will be 21 degrees and sunny in your location”).

Alexa / Siri / Google / etc. are pilling investment to make this work. Much improved voice recognition means this is becoming an increasingly more viable option to consider. It's similar to Chat Bots in functionality but operates via voice.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is using the camera on a phone to match symbols / letters / numbers / images to a database. This is how number plate recognition is powered, and this technology is established and works well.

AR is all about augmenting what you see around you by overlaying information on a screen.

VR is about creating an entirely virtual world like immersive games. Training simulators for flying have been using this technology for a number of years.

ML is something of a buzz word and effectively means that based on a User’s behaviour, your computer / phone / device learns your preferences and refines future suggestions based on that information.

Beacons are low energy bluetooth emitting devices which are used for indoor mapping. The idea is to have a point marked by a beacon and measuring distance from beacon to your phone. If you have 3 beacons, you can triangulate a location.

Using a 360 degree camera, users are able to create an image all around them.

Smart watches sync up with phones to show you essential information.

You've decided your idea is good - so what's next? How do you move things forward towards being a reality?

Lots of people create products/ businesses/ apps because they like an idea - but do they know how to market it without spending tons of money? This analogy will really help you think about clients BEFORE building anything.

What is the journey users will go on? No need for perfection, just action - like this...

People agonise to move forward - but you need to gradually start SHOWING what people will be using - and this is the start.

Breaking down making a successful product/ business/ app is all about getting initial fans - 1,000 true fans and you're really on your way!