How to Validate an Idea

You and I want the same thing.

We want to make sustainable change in the world, and we know that one of the most impactful ways of doing that is through large organisations. These organisations have a huge amount of manpower, large financial resources, growing fleets, and big busy estates.

To bring about change, you need ideas, and not just any ideas, you need great ideas.

You also don’t want to waste your time sitting and overthinking about bad ideas, so you need to get out there and make sure you’re onto a winner.

Whether you work in sustainability, the environment, water, waste, biodiversity, air quality, or any other area related to these, you are going to learn, throughout this article, how to validate an idea.

Sustainability Entrepreneur’s Validation Guidance

Is your idea going to reduce carbon emissions, keep waste out of landfills, clean the oceans, purify the air, or make a load of environmental and financial savings? To validate your idea, you’re going to have to do a bit of research, put on a mask and do some acting, and lean on the opinions of friends, experts, colleagues, and potential customers.

Tip one - Start with the people you know and trust

Get together a group of your most intelligent, ambitious, and critical friends, as they are going to make up the audience for your idea pitch. Be sure not to have too many loving family members or overly loyal friends there, as they may tell you what you want to hear, instead of what you need to hear. Pitch your idea to them as if you are serious about it and want to make it happen - this will encourage their honesty.

Tip two - Prime industry contacts

Get into your contact book or LinkedIn network and select between 5 and 10 people in the industry of your idea, and try to get them on the phone. You are going to discuss your idea with them, gather their thoughts, and then at the end, you’re going to see if they would be interested in purchasing some of the product of the hypothetical business/ service. If they say yes, this is a great sign, and if they say no, you must ask many questions as to why not, and get to the root of their fears. When validating an idea, it’s important that if the experts have doubts you can find and alleviate them.

Tip three - Find your ideal customers

Perhaps you already know exactly who would benefit from your idea and can get to them quite easily. You’re going to call up, ask for the relevant person, and when you get through to them, you’re going to try and sell your idea to them as if it is already a working on a functioning service. If you can make imaginary sales, you can make real sales, and if any of these phone calls turn into opportunities, just say that the service will be ready further down the line and that they can be placed on a waiting list. Waiting lists actually create a buzz, whilst also giving you time to develop your ideas.

Tip four - Visit the Bank Manager

If your idea is really worth its weight in gold, the bank is the best place to have it financially validated. Get a meeting with the Bank Manager, pitch your idea, and try to get a loan. The goal here is not to get a yes or a no, but to find out why. If the bank approves your loan, find out why they did so, and if the bank rejects your loan, try to gather all of the information and advice that they can give you about its financial viability.

Tip five - Set up a crowdfunding campaign

When Joseph Pulitzer set up the world’s first ever crowdfunding campaign, he didn’t know if it was going to work or not, but thanks to his efforts, New York managed to install her lady of liberty (read the story). Like Pulitzer, you can massively validate an idea by putting it out there and asking strangers to part ways with a small amount of money in support of your idea. If enough people support it and are willing to back it financially, then you essentially have a customer base and a tribe of supporters from the start. These are great signs.

Find your tribe the right way...

Tip six - Present yourself as if you’re about to build the idea

Make people believe that you’re on the verge of finalising the idea. Set up a landing page (which is really easy with software like Leadpages) and see how well this page performs by watching the Google Analytics. Put a contact form on the homepage and see how many people sign up for it. This method works best in conjunction with tip three and tip five.

This is where we are at with Sust Ent. Between July and August 2019 we are validating this service. Read more here. 

Tip seven - Present yourself as if you’ve already built the idea

Essentially, you’re going to turn the idea into a business, and turn that business into an online presence so that you give off the impression that you are active and making sales. This is an incredible method for testing out how popular and desirable your idea is. Set up some Facebook or Twitter adverts and see if you get clicks, and even better, if you get any potential leads.

The final point to remember

Don’t be concerned if your idea exists and if other people are doing it already, as this is actually a good thing. You can take a proven idea, adjust it, tweak it, customise it, and make it perfect for your industry and ideal customer base. Creating genius innovations that have never been done before is not the goal here, the goal is to make sure your idea is good, financially viable, and can have a positive impact on planet Earth.

Mark Shayler and Daniel O'Connor are hosting a webinar on how to validate your ideas. We will take you through it, help you validate ideas and have a Q&A.  More info and register below.