Your brilliant idea is what got you here. It might be your path to a lifestyle business and financial freedom or it might be a side-project that will give you enough to finally take that holiday. Is your idea really that good? It’s possible that you’re putting a disproportionately high value on your idea. In social psychology this is known as the IKEA effect.
Know that your first idea is often wrong. That’s ok. Pivoting is a normal part of the process and if you do it early, you haven’t lost much time or money. Achieving product/market fit can take time – talking to potential customers as soon as possible is one of the best ways to determine whether your idea has potential.
Rovio created 51 games before they became an overnight success with the launch of Angry Birds
Keeping Your Idea Secret
It can be tempting to keep your cards close to your chest because you’re worried that someone might copy your idea. Perhaps you’re worried that Google might steal your idea.
‘Stealth Mode’ startups like to hide until they’re ready to launch with a complete feature set of tools that will disrupt the market. They normally have a long runway and significant backing as they can afford to build the product for months and months without needing any revenue.
Whilst ‘going stealth’ is sometimes a good strategy (if first-mover advantage or a land grab is really important) there are a few good reasons to tell people about your idea:
- You can get feedback and (sometimes) honest criticism that allows you to improve and iterate
- You may find competitors which you didn’t previously know about
- You might make others aware of your interests so that you can forge partnership or find alliances
- You can build your audience whilst you build your product
Ideas are very cheap. Execution of a profitable product to paying customers is what matters.
Building a Solution Without a Problem
The startup community is awash with stories that go something like this: “I had this idea for an awesome product. So, I built it in less than a month. I know it can be big! How do I find customers?”
Have you built a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist? Was it an excuse to build something because you wanted to rather than building something because there was a need for it?
So, how do you find out whether your idea is something that people will pay for? You ask them. Find 10 potential customers and ask them the right questions.
It might be tempting to say “If I built x, would you use it?” or “How much would you pay for x?”. These questions don’t typically give you insightful answers – they’re hypothetical and don’t get to the root of your potential customers problems. Try these instead:
- What do you find hard about [Your Target Market]?
- Why is that hard?
- How often do you experience those issues?
- What do you currently do to handle those issues?
- What are the problems with the way you handle this at the moment?
- Where do you find information about [Your Target Market]?
These are known as ‘open questions’ which tend to receive longer and better replies. The opposite are ‘closed questions’ which tend to receive shorter, less useful replies.
You will then get a much greater understanding of the real problems that your customers are having. This dialogue with a potential customer is invaluable to validating your idea as well as forging a relationship.
Understand the problem before you try to solve it.
Worrying About Competitors
An idea with good traction will be copied. You could worry about what they’ll do next or closely monitor their progress or their announcements. The alternative is that you could put your energy in to building the best possible product you can.
Furthermore, you might be able embrace the competition and use them to your advantage. How? Here are a few ideas:
- Identify areas in which they are lacking and use that as a comparator for your product
- Leverage their press and marketing by letting them do the hard work first and then piggy backing on articles and guest posts
- Emphasise that you are more specific in your target market – you have domain expertise so are better suited to help your customers
- Let customers see you as the trustworthy alternative because you have better testimonials, brand awareness or history
- Use the awareness that your competitors are providing to educate your customers that solutions do exist to their problems
Being Dispassionate About Your Market
Going in to a market in which you have no understanding is risky. Going in to a market in which you have no interest is even more risky. Building a successful startup often takes longer than you think.
Do you have the stamina to keep going with gusto for as long as it takes? If it’s in a market that you love, you can sit down at your desk every day because it grows your business and you love it. But, if it’s in a market in which you have no interest, it’s going to be hard to keep going.
This is particularly true of marketing and content marketing in particular. If you need to write blog posts or engaging material every week, think about how sustainable that is. Getting revenue early can be a good motivator but it’s not guaranteed and you might need passion to get you through those moments of despair.
Aside: It is possible to succeed in an area in which you have no passion but the costs are often higher. For example, you may want to find a co-founder who has domain specific interest; or you may need to outsource marketing skills like content creation.
Quitting Your Job
It can take time to earn your first dollar online (some don’t even make a dime). If you’ve got a job, even if you hate it, it can be better to build your first product on the side before quitting.
You can then transition from ‘working for the man’ to ‘working on your side-project’ to ‘full time solopreneur’. The key is to stay in the game long enough to win.
Your Business
Designing, Branding and Naming Until the Cows Come Home
Finding the perfect name for your product can be like pulling teeth. You ideally want a name that conveys the emotional message of your brand whilst also being short and easy to spell. Then you have to find a domain name that is available. Good luck with that!
Choose one and stick with it. Put a note in your diary to go back and check your domains a month from now. Repeat the process each month and if you’re becoming wildly successful, then by all means, protect your brand.
Whist the tech. crowd can spot a Bootstrap or Foundation site from a mile away, do your customers care? Perhaps they’re just interested in whether your product works and whether they trust you enough to get out their credit card?
Calling the Lawyer
Incorporating a company and jumping through the legal hoops varies from country to country. It can cost anything from $5 to $5000. You might also be tempted to patent and trademark your ideas to ensure they can’t be copied. But where does it end? What about patent protection in multiple countries? What about hiring a lawyer to handle your unique terms and conditions and privacy policy?
This premature optimization could be your downfall, both in terms of financial cost but also in terms of opportunity cost – there are probably better things you could be doing with your time (like talking to customers or putting up a landing page).
Thinking Too Big
It can be tempting to think that you need support staff and a secretary because your business could be a multinational empire within two months. It’s also easy to think you could ‘get rich quick’.
It often takes longer than you think, even when you know it takes longer than you think.
One of the best skills about being a solopreneur or small bootstrapped company is that you need the mental faculty to think big and think small.
Thinking big is necessary because you need to keep an eye on the goal – it can be a winding path to success. Thinking small is equally necessary because you need to focus on what’s required right now. What are you going to do, today, to get your tasks done.
Marketing To the Max
Ignoring Your Audience
Your audience represents your customers, albeit only potential customers. If you reach out, educate and help, you can build trust and authority in your target market. Bring them along the journey with you, understand them and use their language. Whilst you build your product you can incorporate feedback to continuously improve.
Leading up to the launch, you can build suspense and excitement so that your potential customers don’t have to think about getting out their credit card. It becomes an inevitable action, not a decision.
Ignoring Enterprise Customers
Business or enterprise customers can be so undervalued by small business owners. They are the least price sensitive (compared with consumers) so you can charge higher prices. Their churn rate tends to be much lower with the added benefit of lower support requirements. This means that the lifetime value that you see from one enterprise customer is much, much higher that a standard consumer.
So, what do you do if the large multinational says ‘you’re too small’ and ‘we can’t risk choosing someone without a support team’? You answer honestly and say that you will be their single point of contact for any issues that arise. You will personally lead them through the sign up process (this is known as onboarding or acting as a concierge).
Moreover, because it’s your product and you understand their requirements you will be able to help improve the product as their requirements change. They become your cornerstone client.
When you’ve got a customer whose business will be materially impacted if your product were to stop working – that’s when exciting things start to happen.
Sales
Undercharging and Over-Selling
Some SaaS apps undercharge their customers. Others fail to make a single sale. (Pricing strategies are something I cover in my Launch Your Product course – sign up at the bottom of this post to get more).
Instead of treating a sale like a transaction, think about it like the start of a relationship. Build a relationship with your potential customers, show them that you understand their problems. Over time, you can extol virtues the virtues of your product so that the sale becomes an inevitable conclusion.
Tip: During a sales process, don’t ask questions that can be answered with a ‘No’. Try to ask questions that elicit an emotional response or a story. For example, if you’re selling muffins at a stall, one of the best questions to ask is ‘What’s your favourite muffin?’ followed by ‘When was the last time you had a delicious muffin like that?’
Ignoring Your Close Network
Your close network represents your best opportunity. Not just for help and support but for potential clients. You should be able to write down the names of ten people that you know would benefit from using your product. Think in terms of concentric circles whereby your inner circle consists of your friends and family; the next circle is your audience or people you know within your target market; further out from there are people who you can get an introduction to.
Concentrate on the inner circle before moving out – they are the most receptive because you understand their problems.
Don’t be fearful of asking for help. It’s ok to ask your friends for help. It’s also to ask ‘internet celebrities’ and people you admire for advice. You might be surprised at how successful your requests are (I normally get over 70% response from cold emails). A quick tip is to follow these four rules:
- Be considerate
- Be specific
- Be personal
- Ask one clear, concise question
The Big Launch
It doesn’t need to be a big, perfect launch. But you need to launch.
Rob Walling suggests that if you haven’t launched within 6 months, you probably never will. If this is your first product, you should probably aim for 3 months. Remember, this doesn’t need to be the ‘final version’, you can launch with something and then improve it.
Wishing
Wishing something is going to be successful is not going to work. Use the ‘Just In Time Learning’ technique to get things done. Learn enough to make progress on your startup every single day. Learn just enough that allows you get your task done and then move on to the next task. You can always improve later.
Whilst I understand the irony, there comes a point when you have to stop reading and start doing. There are plenty of wantrepreneurs out there – do you want it badly enough? If so, stop reading so many articles and following the latest startups and create your own.
You’ll never win the lottery unless you buy a ticket.
Going It Alone
It can be hard to make progress when you’re all alone. Co-founders can be a great source of strength to help you through the ‘dips of sorrow’. They can also provide complementary skills to ensure that as a team you have the best chance of success.
If you’re keen to work as a solopreneur you might find it useful to talk to others in your position. Consider attending a meetup in your local area, joining a chat room for solopreneurs or joining a mastermind group. A word of caution: don’t mistake this for real work. This is to provide you with guidance and support – you still need to get back to talking to customers and launching!
Not Launching
We can all procrastinate until the cows come home. Stop reading and Start doing.
