Shut Up & Take My Money: How to Find Business Ideas Customers Want – Josh Kaufman – MicroConf 2013

Want to avoid wasting hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars pursuing the wrong business idea? Three simple checklists can help you keep your time, money, and sanity.

In this talk at MicroConf 2013, Kaufman will discuss how to deconstruct new business ideas, cherry-pick the most promising markets, and maximize the probability your new venture will be profitable.

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[Music] [Music] We're gonna talk about one of my Absolute favorite things in the world Which is validating new business ideas And so when when Rob invited me to speak I asked him you know would I have never Been in a micro conflict what does it Feel like what's the tone it's like hey We have a whole bunch of videos so look At all the videos from micro 2012 and You can kind of get a feel for what we Do here so I was watching these videos And I noticed a phrase come up over and Over and over again in those videos Which was shut up and take my money Right at building a business having some Idea that is so good that you can be Sitting in front of a customer Explaining what it is you do and they Just say stop I've heard enough and they Take out their wallet checkbook or Credit card and say I will take one Please right now it's the ideal Situation right we want to build Something that is so valuable that it's Irresistible that the people that we are Trying to sell to want it right now so Today we're going to talk about a couple Of things we're going to talk about how To test and evaluate ideas and how to do That in a way that is not just finding An idea that is likely to work or an Idea that something that somebody is

Going to want finding an idea that is Likely to result in a long-term Sustainable business which is an Entirely different matter so first a Little bit of background on me I got my Start in the business world by working For a very large company Proctor and Gamble and my background was in Technology I was in systems in Administration but I found myself Working in marketing doing product Development at this very very large Company so every once in a while you You'll see in the Wall Street Journal or Another large paper this really big Feature article about all of the crazy Research that Procter & Gamble Researchers do to like figure out how People feel about Toilet paper I was that guy Not about toilet paper but about dish Things like dish soap So my first work experience was Developing products for mr. clean Swiffer Don cascade and Febreze all of these big Big home care brands and trying to Understand what the science department In PNG was capable of doing and then Going out into the world and trying to Figure out what people wanted in these Particular needs right so my first Experience was doing huge product Development and market research for for

Procter & Gamble at the same time I was Developing something called the personal MBA which was my attempt to learn the Fundamentals of business as I said my Background is technology not business And so everybody that I was working with Had MBAs from Harvard and Stanford and Wharton and that was super super Intimidating and so I decided that I Wanted to learn for myself what are the Fundamentals behind every business what Ties the huge multi billion-dollar Multinational corporations of the world With the micro businesses that would That we're here to discuss today so in The process of putting together the Personal MBA I did a lot of research on All of the fundamental parts of the Business as well as how do you come up With an idea and translate that into Something that makes money now as a Result of that I have put this framework To use for over hundreds of businesses So I have a lot of X we are we good Sound wise I kind of hear myself going Up and down we're good all right so I Have a lot of experience applying this Approach to businesses that are going From nothing to something so the focus Of my consulting and advising business With helping entrepreneurs who had an Idea just didn't know how to get started Ok so what we're going to talk about Today three are related but very

Distinct ideas ok The first is market research just kind Of what we all think about going out Into the world and finding the next Great business idea right market Research is just that you're going out Your Electing information you're generating Ideas you're trying to find something That you think maybe looks interesting Right the second phase of that is market Evaluation so once you have an idea it's Very very dangerous to get all excited About the idea and jump in and spend a Lot of time and a lot of money Developing something that ultimately Doesn't work right so market research is Not enough you have to take the next Step and be able to evaluate that that Idea what it's going to look like when You translate the idea into a business That is serving customers right now that Evaluation process you're still Collecting information you're not quite Sure whether or not it's actually going To work so the third step is market Validation going out into the actual Marketplace presenting an idea to a real Prospective customer and asking them a Question do you like this will you buy It and that is the point where you get The real solid information that you need To have which is is this something That's valuable enough for someone to

Pull out their wallet checkbook or Credit card and buy does that make sense Three very different processes one goes Right into the next okay now one of the Things just getting started and getting Our head screwed on straight about this Is it's important to understand that Market evaluation so seeing if this idea Is going to be interesting and making Sure it's going to be a valuable process This is a two-way process right so just Like for those of us maybe back in our Old days when we were interviewing for a Job you're in a much stronger position To negotiate a good situation for Yourself if you walk into a job Interview and you think to yourself I am Evaluating this company on whether it is The right fit for me Right I'm not trying to impress I'm not Trying to get validation I'm not trying To make the other person happy I'm going To see if there's a mutual fit is this Good for them can I provide value to the Company Is this good for me are they going to Reward me for it right market evaluation Is exactly the same thing right there Are all sorts of things that you could You could possibly do to make a customer Happy if you were so inclined right but Those things may not be good for you Actually I have an experiment anybody Have a dollar bill in their pocket you

Pull it out okay dollar bill I'm gonna Make you an offer sir what's your name Dave Dave I'm gonna make you an offer I Will give you this fifty dollar bill If you give me your one dollar bill Right thank you deal Thanks now I just Made Dave a really happy guy right that Was a business transaction I had Something he wanted he had something I Wanted we traded when we both agreed That was a business transaction but it Was horrible for me right and a lot of Times we we have these business ideas And we get so excited about it that we Skipped this step market evaluation has To be a two-way process you have to go Through figuring out is this gonna be a Good thing for me long term is this Something that I actually want to get in And do right does that make sense so We're gonna talk about how to do that Because going out into the world and Finding things that people may want Super easy to do right who here does not Want a flying car I want a flying car Like bad sumit somebody says here's a Flying car I'll be the first picker but Actually doing that thing is a very very Different thing okay now there's an Issue in doing this this research and Evaluation process and the two key Issues are uncertainty and change we Don't know whether or not it's going to Work all right we can have an idea we

Can think it's a good idea but until we Actually go out into the marketplace and Test it it's an open question you know You don't know In advance whether it's going to work or Not to make matters even more Interesting the marketplace is changing All the time needs are changing tastes Are changing expectations are changing And they're changing while we're in the Process of trying to figure out whether This idea is going to work or not right So we need to have some principles we Need to have some ways to break down This very complex process that we're Trying to do right anticipate what People are want will want and imagine a Business that can actually deliver this Thing we need to be thinking about both Steps at the same time while the world Is changing and spinning around us right So it helps to have a framework it helps To have something that allows you to Break down the problem and make sure You're not missing anything okay has Anybody here read Atul Gawande is the Checklist manifesto couple hands in the Back I would recommend this book for Everybody here and a very short version At Olga Wanda is a surgeon and she's Also a writer for The New Yorker and the Book is about how some very simple Practices primarily using checklists can Give you massive improvements and

Results if you just sit down and work Through the checklist to make sure You're not missing anything Sounds brain-dead simple but by using Checklists by going through and making Sure you're covering all the bases from The beginning you can get a much better Result which is a more accurate Anticipation in whether or not a product Ideal will work okay now the reason that It's so important to account for Uncertainty and change is what I call The iron law of the market there's a Famous quote by on Marc Andreessen about 10 10 ish 12 ish years ago he said this Markets that don't exist don't care how Smart you are right anybody can put Together something but it's an open Question on whether somebody else out There will want to pay you money for it Right so all the things that we are Going to do in the market research in The market evaluation phase is trying to Be on the Right side of the iron law of the market We want to make really damn sure that People are interested in what we offer And are willing to pay for what we offer Before we go through the time and effort And expense of making that thing real With me so far Good now one thing that I think is Really interesting and this this is a an Approach that is taken from engineering

If you want to understand how something Really works understand it when it Breaks understand when it explodes look At how this system or how this thing You're trying to do can fail and then Don't do those things or do things to Overcome those things right so you want To figure out how to build a really tall Building that won't collapse study Buildings that have collapsed or in the Process of collapsing you can learn a Lot that way right one alert want to Build a car that is really reliable look At cars that break right so let's look At the failure modes let's look at Businesses that end up building Something and really really regret it What do they say let's say this is five Years down the road they've invested a Lot of time a lot of money in what they Do here's what they say I can't find People who are interested in what I Offer right there's no market there's no Group of people who will raise their Hands and say yes this is for me give me More information right The second is people say they want what They offer they're willing to talk to me But no one actually buys from me right No money coming into my bank account Means no viable business okay and the Third is I can't bring in enough revenue Or profit to make my effort worthwhile Right people are paying me money but

It's not enough I'm putting in a lot of Time a lot of energy a lot of work and It's not rewarding me enough I'm going To go off and do something else that is More rewarding right those are the three Major causes of failure long term in a Business so if we can't anticipate these Things during the market research in the Market evaluation process we can have a Much better anticipation Whether something will work we're not Make sense okay now one thing and this Is I can't believe it's not taught more Widely if you're running a business it Would stand to reason or you want to run A business we'd stand a reason that you Should probably understand what a Business is and how it works at a Fundamental universal level but if you Go out and you read books you know get Some books from Amazon or you go to the Library and you go to the business Section and you look at this question What is a business what are we doing Here when we say we want to start one And run one the answer is very fuzzy It's not very useful so one of the Things that's really important for us to Understand is what a business actually Is and what it actually does and how it Works so we can put together one that Works now every business has five parts And we've been talking about the first One a lot here belly creation every

Business creates something of value for Other people it could be anything it Could be a car could be dish soap could Be a software service could be a roller Coaster the value that is created is Very wide and very varied but every Single business large or small creates Something of value for other people Right now once you've created something Valuable for other people it doesn't Matter unless people know that you exist Right nobody knows that you exist it Doesn't matter how what how valuable the Thing you've created is right people Have to be aware that you have something To offer and this is the process called Marketing marketing is going out into The world and telling people here I am This is what I do this is why you should Be interested in this thing that I have Built for you right the outcome of the Marketing process process is called a Prospect right you have a person who has Raised their hand said yeah that looks Interesting tell me more about that Right now once you have a prospect the Third part of every business is sales And sales is the magical part of every Business where money actually changes Hands right I have something you want You have something I want let's trade And we're going to be better off for the Trade having happened Right it's the only part of this process

Where money flows in so it's super Important but it's not the same as Marketing right marketing is attracting A prospect selling is actually going Through a transaction with that prospect Right now once you've taken somebody's Money you have to give them the thing That you promised right what do you what Do you call an operation that takes some Of these money but doesn't give them the Value it's a scam right and we're not Running scams we're running businesses And so one of the things that you need To anticipate as you're evaluating a Business idea is what is it gonna take For me to actually deliver this thing That I've promised to a paying customer In a way that's likely to make them Happy right If you don't anticipate that you can set Yourself up in a really bad situation by Taking people's money and not delivering In a way that makes them happy right and Then finance is just the process of Looking how much you're spending looking How much is coming in in terms of sales And answering two very very important Questions first Am i bringing in more than I'm spending Important question right and number two Is it enough is it enough to make my Time and effort worthwhile here if it is Great congratulations you're a success Successful business it doesn't matter if

You're bringing in a thousand dollars or A hundred billion dollars the scale the Scope and scale of the business does not Matter if you if you are bringing in More money than you're spending and it's Worthwhile for you to keep going then Awesome you were a successful business Person right does that make sense Fundamental process it doesn't matter if It's a multi-billion dollar corporation Or the smallest garage venture that has Ever existed every single business in The world does these five things right So we've all heard a lot about business Plans and the importance of having one Or not having one or whatever you do Need to have one but the only thing that Needs to be on your business plan are These five things take a take a sheet of Paper five headings value creation Marketing sales value delivery finance If you cannot describe What the business is going to operate Doing each of those five things in that Order you don't understand the business Well enough to make it work it makes Sense only takes an hour if that to do But it's super super important right now As you are searching for things for your Business to do I find one phrase really Really valuable in terms of priming Going out into the world and looking for Things that could be beneficial to Somebody whether it's a business or an

End consumer those two phrases are more Awesome less awful right so you can you Can walk down the strip this afternoon And start looking for ways to make the Place more awesome what would be cool Flying cars more awesome right or less Awful trash everywhere how what could we Do to remove that right you can go out Into the world and find all sorts of Ideas that would either make the world More awesome and less off or less awful Right the other thing that you can look For that's a really good place to start Is looking for hassles kind of falls Into the less awful territory right Things that just generally suck to do Our really time-consuming or our really Frustrating or our very error-prone Or somebody would rather if they have Their way just not ever think about or Deal with ever again the larger the size Of the hassle the greater the business Opportunity right so with this morning With Jason's presentation WP engine is a Hassle premium business right running a WordPress site beyond a certain scale Sucks I've done it it sucks and so Instead of doing it yourself you can pay Jason a lot of money and he will remove That hassle for you right so the larger The hassle the bigger the business Opportunity and you can go out into the World and start collecting ideas this is Market research right go out into the

World look for houses okay the other Thing that you can do is is removing Friction Things that take too much attention or Energy or effort or require a lot of Manual processing where you know as Software entrepreneurs we're really good At making a system move more efficiently Right anything you can do to remove Friction or remove effort or remove time Or remove attention is very valuable if You do that in the case of a Business-to-business system just Removing a little bit of friction can be Worth a ton of money so for example you Go on Amazon Amazon one click click a Button you buy it it's automatically Delivered you never have to think about It that's an example of moving removing Friction and that is an opportunity that Makes Amazon a ton of money freer Right does that make sense ok now when You've gone out into the world and You've been looking for hassles you've Been looking for ways to make things More awesome more or less awful you have A bunch of ideas it's helpful to have Some way of figuring out ok let's say I Have 10 ideas which one should I do Alright it's helpful to have some type Of framework some way to break it down And analyze it to be able to say this Opportunity looks interesting but so Does this one but I'm going to do a

Instead of B because it's more likely to Work ok so the 10 ways to evaluate a Market is a way of putting your ideas Through the wringer and figuring out Does this idea have characteristics that Are likely to lead it into being a good And profitable business in the long term Now the first is urgency right how Urgently do people need this right is This something that they could buy a Decade from now and never think about in The meantime or is this for example Something like a cancer treatment I need It right now to survive right the more Urgent it is the better the business Idea the second is size how large is the Potential market for this as best as you Can tell is this something that can Serve millions and of people or is this Something that a few small practices in A small town in Iowa are going To understand and appreciate right how Large is the potential market the larger The better the third is pricing Potential how much could you feasibly Charge for this thing is this something That you're going to sell for 99 cents On the app store or is this an aircraft Carrier that you're going to sell to the Department of Defense for billions of Dollars right the larger the pricing Potential the more attractive the Businesses right before this cost of Customer acquisition how much is it

Going to cost you to find a person who May be interested and go through the Entire process that leads to the Transaction the less it costs the more Attractive attractive to the business Right same goes for cost of value Delivery how much is it going to cost You to deliver this thing that you've Promised to a customer the less it costs The more attractive the business Uniqueness are you the only one in the World that is doing this thing or is This as a commodity product is this Something that anybody can copy or Anybody can compete directly head-on With you With no differentiation the more unique The offer is the more valuable the Business speed to market how quickly can You actually start selling somebody Something if it's gonna take you a Decade before you have anything to sell Like in the case of a pharmaceutical Really big deal right this is something That you could sit down code a product Today or write a book or whatever and Have it available for sale tomorrow Morning Awesome the faster the better up for an Investment how much you're going to need To spend if you have to spend hundreds Of millions of dollars before you have Anything to sell not so attractive if It's next to free very attractive unless

You have to spend the better upsell Potential are there other things in this Market that these prospective customers May be also interested in buying right One of the brands I did a little bit of Work on at Procter & Gamble was Gillette Has something like 90% of the blades and Razors market for men right nine out of Every ten razor blades are Gillette Blades not a whole lot of room to grow Or expand right except when you think of All the upsells right so so guy Who want razors what shaving cream want Shampoo wants Cologne what deodorant Want all sorts of other things that are Kind of in the category of taking care Of yourself right the more potential Upsells that you have selling more Things to the same person The more attractive the business and Evergreen potential how much work are You going to need to continue to do to Make this thing available for sale right This is something that is done once and Will sell to happy customers for the Rest of eternity or is this something That you are going to have to put in Lots and lots of work keeping it up to Date keeping it relevant the more Evergreen it is the more attractive it Is the less evergreen it is like for Example technology is not very evergreen In a lot of senses right the less Evergreen it is the less attractive okay

Any questions so far there's been a lot Of information so let's just check in Does everybody understand how this works What's important and what's not okay now Once you have this idea it's also in Your best interest to figure out this is Another checklist i use called the 12 Standard forms of value when you're Creating something new that you intend To offer a customer it helps to know That you don't have to create it from Scratch Right there are standard forms that Value provided to a customer or to a Business tend to take and so just Understand the forms and use it as a way Of generating ideas of how you can serve That customer or that market better now The first form of value very common is a Product write a ball that you buy at a Toy store a app that you buy on the App Store those are products right tangible Or intangible there's a unit available For sale it's a one-time transaction Services are intangible benefits in Exchange for a fee right so you go get Your haircut can't buy it from a shelf You go to somebody and they do that to You or for you and you pay them for it That's a service a shared resource is Something that you create once and then You let lots of people use it in Exchange for a fee right so let's say a Museum or an amusement park right

Company builds the amusement park first Once and they let lots of people ride The roller coaster that's a shared Resource software-as-a-service is a Shared resource model right you build The system once you let lots of people Use it in exchange for a fee okay it's Not a product it's not a service it's Its own thing It's a shared resource okay a Subscription is buying some value now But also having your customers pre Commit to future value in exchange for a Fee right so you sign up for a magazine For examples you subscribe you are Paying for issues of that magazine that Don't exist yet but you've pre committed To buying that once it comes out right In exchange for that lump sum fee Subscriptions are awesome as Jason said Because it's recurring revenue right you Can count on that Okay resale is buying one thing that all Sale price a low price and selling it For a higher price the lower you buy it For the higher you you sell it for that Is your profit margin the more money you Make right retail businesses follow this Model lease is buying something and then Letting people use it in exchange for a Fee right car rentals hotel rooms all Sorts of thing Netflix is a quasi lease Subscription model right all sorts of Different ways to do this as long as you

Have an asset that survives loaning to Somebody else Its Elise agency is selling something That you don't already own so for Example Airbnb they're helping people Lease their apartments their inventory They don't own or control right there Just brokering a transaction on behalf Of a buyer and seller and in exchange For a fee right marketplace models are Agency models audience aggregation is Collecting a huge group of people who All have similar interests and then Selling access to those people in Exchange for a fee this is usually Called advertising one of the hardest Business models to get right because Usually the people you're collecting Don't want to be advertised to right but That collecting of an audience and Selling that limited attention to Companies that want that marketing is Very valuable so idea in segregation and There are a couple more and these are Financial insurance you buy an Apple Laptop they say do you want it the three Year warranty right it's insurance Transferring the risk of some bad thing Happening to you the seller versus the Buyer in exchange for a fee insurance Takes all sorts of different forms a Standard insurance contract warranties Whatever if you think about ways that You can transfer risk from your

Purchasers to you you can sell insurance Options giving people the ability to do Something but not necessarily mandating That they do that movie tickets for Example or purchasing a product that Doesn't necessarily have to be used but They have the option of using it so Support rates Support retainers often take this model Right here is I am available for your Support if you need it you have the Option of contacting me at this Information you're going to give me a Couple thousand dollars a month so I can Be available for you that's an option Loans we're all pretty familiar with Right mortgages are the the standard Example lots of different financing pay For this over twelve months instead of Paying for it all at once that's a form Of a loan you can charge for that right And capital which we're all familiar With in the form of venture capital okay So when you're thinking about things That you can offer to somebody else You can package them in one or more of These twelve forms right you don't have To invent the wheel from nothing use one Of the forms that historically has Worked for thousands of years one of These so you said it's a checklist Here's a market of people who want Something specific have a need or have a Hassle or something that they would want

To be more awesome or less awful choose One or more of these forms of value to Say here's a thing that I can do for you That gets you more of what you want Right now you have an offer okay now When you present somebody an offer it's Not guaranteed that they're going to Take it why they have alternatives there Are trade-offs to be made right so I Want a flying car but I don't want a Flying car that costs twelve billion Dollars right people are making Decisions in the face of all sorts of Competing alternatives and so it's Important to understand what people tend To economically value value what are Things that people want enough to spend Perfectly good money for and there are Nine things the first is efficacy how Well does it work does it work better Than other options right if it works Better they're probably going to be Willing to pay more for it speed how Quickly does it work Fast slow the faster the better Reliability doesn't work all the time is This something that I can count on so For example when you're buying a car do You wants to have a 10% chance every Time you get in the driver's seat and Turn the key that it's not going to Start know that reliability comes at a Premium and people are willing to pay For that ease of use how much work is it

For me to understand what do I need to Do to get this end result the less I Have to do the better flexibility how Many things can I do is this something That is only good for this one very Narrow use case or is this something That can be applied to lots of different Things over a long period of time the More flexible it is the more valuable it Is okay status how does this make other People perceive me or the customer so For example you can either buy a Rolex For several hundred or several thousand Dollars depending on which one you buy Or you can walk into Walmart and buy a Quartz watch for two dollars and 98 Cents they both tell the time equally Accurately right but that's not the Reason people buy the Rolex people buy The Rolex because of status of what it Tells other people the people around Them about who they are and there's Their situation in life right The higher the status this makes the Purchaser look or appear the more Valuable it is aesthetic appeal how Beautiful is this thing does something That I want to look at something that I Want to play with the higher the Aesthetic appeal the higher the value Look at Apple laptops right sold almost Entirely on us that appeal make lots of Trade-offs in terms of specs and Specifications but that's not what

Customers are buying they're buying an Aesthetic appeal and they're buying Status Okay emotion how does this make me feel Am i happy every time I use this thing Or look at this thing there's just Something that's a pain in the butt to Deal with every single time easier it is To use the more emotion the more happy Feelings around this thing that you are Offering the better right That's why software-as-a-service so many So much work has been done adding Personal touches it's like this is not Just a software system there are real People who care about your result behind This thing right adding personality to a Product is an appeal to emotion that's Valuable and cost what do I have to give Up to get this the less the better Preferably but as long as I'm getting More value versus what I'm giving up It's worth it for me does that make Sense 9 economic values so when you come up With an idea of something that you can Offer to somebody this determines your Tactics on how you talk about that right What are you going to appeal to what are You going to say this is the reason you Should buy this thing it's really Valuable because it's going to get you Fill in the blank to fill in the blank Are these does that make sense so these

Are designed to be Universal it doesn't Matter who you are what you're offering What type of business you're running you Can always use these as a checklist to Figure out what to offer how to position It attractively and how to make sure That people are going to perceive it as Something worth buying does that make Sense Now the outcome of all of this checklist Stuff is either a prototype here's this Thing that I've created that I want that Is now capable of being shown to Somebody else to see what they think But sometimes prototypes or detailed Prototypes are expensive or they're hard And so the other thing that you can do Is what's called a sell sheet and this Is something that we use to Procter & Gamble a lot because actually delivering A new prototype bottle of dish soap was Really expensive and so what we would do Is pull out a sheet of paper and we Would describe and Joanna's going to Talk about copyrighting here here in a Little bit is a copywriting exercise Right here's this thing that we want to Create here's what it is here's what it Does here's how it benefits you here's Why it's appealing here's how it's going To make your life more awesome or less Awful or move a hassle and here's the Price so you have this nice sheet of Paper that you can give to somebody and

Say what do you think right now we're in The validation phase all of the work That we've been doing up to this point Is just trying to isolate enough of an Idea to actually show to somebody Getting a prototype or getting a sell Sheet allows you to take that stuff into Validation right putting it in front of Somebody and saying is this good for you And there are a couple ways to validate A market the first is you need to be Talking to your ideal prospects not any To any prospect not your family not your Friends not your colleagues real people Who are in the position to buy this Thing if and when it is available okay Talk to the people who would be Absolutely ideal I love Jason the Example that you gave about paying Consulting paying consultants and going And talking to them because those were Your ideal customers right those were The people who would sign up for the $300 a month plan right you want to talk To the people this is perfect for or you Think it's perfect for the more ideal The customer the better the feed You're gonna get okay now the ideal Feedback that you can get is putting This prototype or putting this sell Sheet in front of a person and asking Them a very simple question will you buy It until you ask that question you're Never gonna know whether or not you have

Something that is worth paying for if You asked that question you're going to Get loads of super valuable feedback Where's Nathan Barry you raise your hand I want to pick on Nathan for a second Because he did this amazingly well I Actually I got a email saying hey hey Can we talk I have something that may be Interesting to you so we got on the Phone and he explained his new business Which is called convertkit and how it Can help with email marketing doing this Thing that I am in the process of doing In it can remove a massive hassle from My life awesome and I told Nathan this Would be something that I would be Perfectly willing to buy right good Feedback right I'm in the market I would Be an ideal customer this is something I'm willing to buy and then Nathan asks Can I have your money I said hey hold it hold it what about This alright there's there's this Feature that's holding me back from Actually give like I can say that I want It but when I get to the point of Actually pulling out my wallet mines Change extremely quickly so here's what You want to know are people actually Willing to give up something to get this Thing right not in theory in practice And if they're not and a lot of times They aren't what's holding them back From that why aren't they they say

They're interested why aren't they Willing to take that next step and Actually purchase for me it was the lack Of a feature which I just heard from Nathan yesterday is actually in the Process of being implemented so yeah Nathan and Aimee but until you actually Ask that question are you willing to Pre-order are you willing to spend Actual money on this thing You're not gonna know whether or not It's gonna work okay now sometimes it's Not possible or feasible to do that so At minimum absolute minimum you should Be collecting email addresses here's why If somebody is not willing to give you a Good email address they're never going To give you money right it's a very low Hurdle to reach but just by collecting Email addresses people are raising their Hands and giving you permission saying I Am interested in this thing let me know When it comes out or give me more Information when it's available so at Minimum if you can do nothing else Collecting personal information like an Email address gets you that step further If people aren't willing to trust you With information they're not willing to Trust you with money make sense okay and Invalidation always the focus is on Close real sales as quickly as humanly Possible that's what validates market That's when you know that there's

Something here so the faster and this Isn't kind of getting getting into all Of the Lean Startup stuff right the Faster you can make something that Actually sells to people the more you Know that this is a market that's going To work have fun this is one of the most In my opinion this is one of the most Fascinating parts of a business right Because we get to do fundamentally what Businesses are built to do which is go Out into the world and find a problem And make a solution to that problem in a Way that delivers lots of benefits to The end-user and in a way that supports Us and there's this wonderful virtuous Cycle where we go out and help a bunch Of people and they give us money so we Can go out and help a bunch more people Which gives us more money and that cycle Can continue as long as you want it to So go out in the world and find those Problems find those hassles figure out a Way to fix it now Have fun Thanks [Applause]