While it is to come up with a business idea, not all of them end up as successful businesses.
When I founded Clevercare in November 2013, New Zealand’s first mobile and GPS medical alarm, to provide independence to the elderly and disabled through the use of technology, I had the business idea laid in a notebook for well over a year while I validated the business idea before launching.
If you have an awesome business idea, first follow these three validation rules I took to ensure that my business idea would succeed.
1) Pitch Your Idea
Get feedback and market validation before you start working on a business idea. It wasn’t until over a year later where I gathered the courage to stand behind my idea and pitch it at a local startup event. My pitch received a wonderful room full of applause and my idea got voted to take
part in the startup event. Pitching your idea to strangers also helps you refine your product before you launch.
2) Get Out There and Talk to the Potential Customers
As part of the event, I went out to rest homes to explore the potential market and their needs, and whether my business idea would alleviate their problems. I was deeply moved by one of my visits where I met an elderly man who regularly escaped the facility just to walk in the sunshine and not feel trapped. Further discussions with the staff solidified the need and after the weekend I felt this was something I had to take further. I conducted three more months of market research and found that this need was not isolated but experienced by many.
3) Sign Up Initial Customers
Real validation of whether your business idea will be successful is to get demand early on and validate that your business is worth paying for. Before my business was even established, I had the potential customers that I found during market research signup to be paid customers come launch day.
This guest post is from Maria Johnston, She is the co-founder of Nothing To Launch, an online idea incubator that accelerates the process of going from business idea to launch. With years of experience as the founder of Clevercare, New Zealand's first mobile and GPS medical alarm provider, she is passionate about helping new entrepreneurs on their startup journey.
Do you have a business idea? We would love to hear about it in the comments below.