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Validate Your Idea
Growth Planning walks you through a process for testing and improving your ideas. So you can launch a business knowing there’s demand for it.
Start Growth PlanningOr get started with our free idea validation toolkit
Growth planning helps you discover who is most likely to be excited by your product or service
Growth planning helps you figure out if you’ll have enough customers to sustain your business
Growth planning helps you get an idea of what your expenses and revenue would look like
Step One: Plan
Before you can figure out if your idea is any good, you need to get it down on paper. Start by creating a one-page plan that outlines your best-guesses about your idea. Think about things like:
The process of answering these questions helps you picture how your business will actually work.
LivePlan: Save time using the LivePlan Pitch and quickly list your assumptions using a simple, guided Q&A format.
or
Idea validation toolkit: Our toolkit contains a free template where you can list your assumptions.
Step Two: Forecast
The most important step is getting out and talking to potential customers about your assumptions. Record every conversation and cover all the questions in step one.
Interviewing people can feel intimidating. Try supplementing your research with:
A Fortune survey found that 42% of startup failures were due to a “lack of a market need for their product.” Customer research is essential.
LivePlan: Supplement your research with industry benchmark data in LivePlan.
or
Idea validation toolkit: Our toolkit contains a free template to keep your research organized.
Step Three: Review
The hard part is over! Next, review the feedback you collected about your idea and answer questions like:
You’ll start to spot patterns in your feedback that hint at whether or not there’s demand for your business.
LivePlan: Adjust your assumptions in the LivePlan Pitch
or
Idea validation toolkit: Adjust your assumptions in your idea validation toolkit
Step Four: Refine
Update your one-page plan based on what you’ve learned. If your assumptions are correct, you’re ready to move forward. In most cases, you’ll likely need to tweak your idea before launching.
For example, you might need to update:
At this stage you should also consider building an initial forecast and an expense budget as well.
You’ll know if your idea has potential or not. If it doesn’t seem like a winner today, iterate based on what you’ve learned and try the growth planning process again.
LivePlan: Refer back to your assumptions in the LivePlan Pitch to see if they were correct or if they need to be adjusted.
or
Idea validation toolkit: Refer back to your assumptions in the idea validation toolkit see if they were correct or if they need to be adjusted.
Or get started with our free idea validation toolkit