Validate Your Idea
Pursue your idea with confidence
Growth Planning is a data-driven process for testing and improving your business ideas. So you can launch a company knowing there’s demand for it.
Or get started with our free idea validation toolkit.
You have a great idea, but you’re not sure how it will work...
Do you have the right strategy in place?
Growth planning helps you determine if you have the right target audience and business model.
What is the demand for your business?
Growth planning helps you figure out if you’ll have enough customers to sustain your business.
Will your idea generate a profit?
Growth planning helps you get an idea of what your expenses and revenue would look like.
Growth planning helps you validate your idea — before you waste time & money on it
Step One: Plan
Outline your idea
Write a one-page plan: 30 minutes
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:
What problem are you solving? Who is your target market? What is your real competition? How will your business model work? How much should you charge?
Why this step is important:
The process of answering these questions helps you picture how your business will actually work.
What you’ll need
LivePlan: Save time using the LivePlan Pitch and quickly list your assumptions using a simple, guided Q&A format.
Idea validation toolkit: Our toolkit contains a free template where you can list your assumptions.
Step Two: Forecast
Collect feedback
Customer interviews: 2+ hours
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:
Industry benchmark data Running online ads Examining your competition
Why this step is important:
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.
What you’ll need
LivePlan: Supplement your research with industry benchmark data in LivePlan.
Idea validation toolkit: Our toolkit contains a free template to keep your research organized.
Step Three: Review
Examine your feedback
Analyze your research: 1-2 hours
The hard part is over! Next, review the feedback you collected about your idea and answer questions like:
Does your feedback mesh with your assumptions? Did anything surprise you? What (if any) new questions do you have about your idea?
Why this step is important:
You’ll start to spot patterns in your feedback that hint at whether or not there’s demand for your business.
What you’ll need
LivePlan: Adjust your assumptions in the LivePlan Pitch.
Idea validation toolkit: Adjust your assumptions in your idea validation toolkit.
Step Four: Refine
Improve your idea
Make adjustments: 2-4 hours
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:
Your target audience Your business model How you’ll sell your products or service
At this stage you should also consider building an initial forecast and an expense budget as well.
Why this step is important:
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.
What you’ll need
LivePlan: Refer back to your assumptions in the LivePlan Pitch to see if they were correct or if they need to be adjusted.
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.
Validate your idea with growth planning
Or get started with our free idea validation toolkit