The Tuesday Roundup
Last week, I wrapped up the idea validation series with a post on founder fit. Before diving into some resources, I want to recap the full series:
I believe the first step in idea validation is validating the problem you’re going to solve. That’s why I started the series with validating the problem by scoring based on urgency, importance, frequency, impact, and the influence of the problem owner.
Next up is validating the buyer/user. The key factors of buyer validation we discussed were their ability and willingness to pay, their sophistication, and their innovation adoption levels. Ideally, you want a buyer that scores highly on all of these.
After the buyer comes market validation. First, you want to establish a sufficiently large TAM and niche within the TAM. Then, focus on the reachability of your customer, evidenced by the ease of validation, ease of selling, and the existence of scaled marketing channels.
That brings us to the end of the series, founder fit. While it was the last newsletter in the series, founder fit is something you should be validating throughout the process. Here are some resources to help you do so.
I opened the newsletter with this blog by David Cummings. It’s a short reminder of why founder/idea fit is so important. My newsletter expanded into the more technical aspects of founder fit, but David has a great perspective on why temperament matters, too.
Some of the best advice I ever received was to figure out what I was good at, figure out what I truly enjoy, and figure out how to combine those to make a living — you’ll never work a day in your life.
If the founder fit validation process leads you to bring on a cofounder, you’ll need to prepare for how messy this relationship can be. Bringing on a cofounder may be exactly what you need, but not treating the relationship with the right respect and intentionality can be disastrous. Revisit the early startup mistakes newsletter for guidance on handling equity. This video from YC startup school offers wisdom on the interpersonal aspect of the cofounder relationship.
Lastly, another resource I referenced in the newsletter that bears repeating is the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Read this to remember that each step you take in the validation process is building your success. It won’t be one single thing that brings you growth — it’s the aggregate of focused daily action.
Let me know your thoughts or questions here, on Twitter, or on Instagram.