IAM2742 – Validate Your Idea Before You Build It

The Risks of Product-Centric Development

A frequent challenge for executives and entrepreneurs is the tendency to prioritize product development over comprehensive market feedback. Devoting significant resources to building and marketing an offer without prior validation often results in a lack of market engagement upon launch. When an organization builds based on internal assumptions of necessity rather than external evidence of demand, it risks a substantial loss of time and capital on solutions that fail to address a verified consumer need.

Methodologies for Objective Market Validation

To reduce the probability of launch failure, it is essential to establish direct communication channels with current and prospective clients before the development phase begins. By systematically identifying the specific challenges faced by the target audience and analyzing the shortcomings of existing solutions, an organization can develop products that are precisely aligned with market requirements. Adopting these “Lean Startup” principles ensures that development is driven by listening rather than speculation, resulting in products that resonate with the intended demographic.

Transitioning Toward Data-Driven Launch Success

Integrating validation into the early stages of a project can transform a launch into a strategic formality, as the product is essentially presold through the discovery process. Maintaining a high level of attentiveness to audience feedback allows a business to anticipate needs that may not be explicitly stated, thereby improving the overall success rate of new offerings. While initial setbacks can be taxing, the resulting insights eliminate years of speculative development and provide a sustainable framework for future growth.

Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/iam2741-revenue-means-nothing-if-your-cash-flow-is-broken/

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Transcription:

Gresham Harkless 00:00
I built something I thought people needed instead of asking them what they actually wanted. I was so focused on the solution that I forgot to validate the problem. And that's where I went wrong. We, as CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners, fall in love with our products and our services. But we forget exactly why we're doing that, which is to solve a problem. So it's imperative that you have that conversation with your existing clients or your potential clients.

If you're building something meaningful, you're in the right place. This is the I Am CEO Podcast. I'm gresh, and for over a decade, I've had the honor and the privilege of Learning directly from CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners just like you on how to build. After recording more than 1600 episodes, one thing has become clear. Success isn't about following someone else's blueprint. And as I like to say on the show, if you run your own race, you can't lose. Even when we feel the journey should be a straight and linear path, what I've come to find out is success is a lot more like a plate of spaghetti. So in this special segment and episode, I'm starting to curate and share some CEO hacks and CEO nuggets that I've been dying to share. Drawn from thousands of episodes with phenomenal guests that have provided awesome value on the show, but also my 10 years of business experience as well too. These lessons are designed to strengthen the foundational principles that every business is built on and guided by a simple equation that we always go back to with our content. Visibility plus resources times connections equals success. This is practical wisdom you can apply almost immediately, so be sure to check out the show notes for more resources and next steps on how to level up. And of course, enjoy this special episode of the I Am CEO Podcast. Picture this.

Gresham Harkless 01:48
Actually, you don't have to picture it. I did this. I spent three months building a product, putting together the offer, creating all the content, hyping it up, and when latch came crickets. Nobody bought, nobody engaged. And I felt like I'd wasted all that time and energy on something that just didn't land. I'm not a big person that likes to use the word failure, but honestly, I think it was so here's what that failure taught me. And that changed everything. Going forward, I built something I thought people needed instead of asking them what they actually wanted. I was so focused on the solution that I forgot to validate the problem. And that's where I went wrong. We, as CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners, fall in love with our products and our services, but we forget exactly why we're doing that, which is to solve a problem. So it's imperative that you have that conversation with your existing clients or your potential clients. The best launches don't actually start with building, they start with listening. One of the first books that I got when I started the blog was the Lean Startup. I got an advanced copy and it's something that I still quote and live by over 10 years later. What you want to do first is talk to your audience, ask them what they're struggling with, find out what they're already, what they've already tried and what didn't work. Then you start to build the thing that they're asking for. Sometimes they might not actually say, hey. I want this, but you're paying attention. So well, because sometimes you create exactly what they're asking without them actually saying it, and your launch becomes a formality because you've already pre sold it to those conversations. Now, before I build anything, I validate it first and my launch success rate has improved dramatically. Failure isn't wasted if you learn the lesson. This is why I don't like to call it failure. This one saved me years of guessing wrong though.