Questions you should answer to validate your next startup idea!

Idea validation template

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The idea validation template was made combining information gathered from different sources, based on different techniques.

Idea

• Define the name of the idea and the meaning of the idea in one sentence. 

Value proposition 

• What customer problems are you helping to solve?

• What customer needs are you going to satisfying?

• What are the key features of your product/service that match customer problems/needs? 

• What is your USP and why is your solution better?  (unique selling point – the one thing that makes you different (and hopefully better) than your competitors.)

• Unfair advantage (can't be easily copied or bought)?

Customers

• Who are your most important customers?

• What are their archetypes? 

• What job do they want you to get done for them? 

• How are your customers solving that problem today? 

Channels 

• Through which channels (sales, distribution, support) do your customers want to be reached?

Customer Relationships 

• How will you get, keep, and grow customers in the next 12 months? 

• How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?

Revenue Streams 

• How will you make money? 

• What is the revenue model? 

• What are pricing tactics? 

Key partners 

• Who are your key partners? 

• Who are your key suppliers? 

• What are you getting from them .. and giving to them? 

MVP

• Top features, project parts.

• Time for MVP? 

Key resources 

• What key resources do you require? Financial? Physical? Intellectual property? Human resources? 

Cost structure 

• What are the most important costs inherent in your business model? What is a mix of fixed and variable costs? 

Competitors

• Who are your competitors? Please provide links to your closest 3 competitors or product substitutions.

• How are you different?

Market

• What does the total addressable market (ie. market size) look like?

• What is localization for the product? 

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