Do you have a business idea but no clarity
or structure to properly validate it? 🤔

If you don’t have a structured foundation to validate your idea, how can you determine if and how you should continue with it at any point in the future? Spoiler: it's really hard!

We help you create momentum by turning your idea into an actionable validation plan.

Stop ideating and guessing. Get into action mode.

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Is this you?

🧐 Unsure about where to start investigating your idea? Depending on the context of your idea there are lots of things you could do. But what should you do? (one thing is for sure: you need to stop talking about it and start doing)

💬 Struggling to formulate the right questions that you can ask potential customers? It's crucial to learn, uncover their needs, and determine how best to serve them.

💣 Uncertain about which of your idea's assumptions should be validated first, and how? Which assumptions, when wrong, could kill your idea? This is where you start.

🔥 You don't want to waste time, money, and energy on the wrong ideas. This is the biggest risk for any creative person with lots of ideas. You are excited to make them a reality, but you also need to confirm they have merit before investing more resources.

Research shows that most startups fail because they run out of money (38%), fail to find a market need (38%), or have a flawed business model (19%)*This all ties back to how good, or bad, the initial idea was validated.

Want to stop pondering what to do and actually start doing?You need a validation plan ↓

Let us help with a structured plan and clarity before you start doing the work to validate your idea 🔬

Clarity upfront equals better decision-making in the future.

How we develop your validation plan 💡

Two calls, one plan.

Hear from other entrepreneurs ♥️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The validation plan has been a game-changer for me, offering incredibly helpful, clear, and structured guidance specifically tailored to my startup. Up to this point, my tactics had been unorganized, so having a detailed plan focused on underlying assumptions and validation experiments was invaluable. As someone early in the founder journey, this service is highly recommended. It provides an experienced approach to product validation, making it well worth the investment before taking any next steps - Marc H.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our validation plan helped us get unstuck and provided lots of clarity which made us feel more confident about our next steps. Most valuable was the hands-on validation experiments for the Problem Assumptions. It provided concrete, tangible steps to get started, which was a significant hurdle for us. I wholeheartedly recommend Bram's service to other entrepreneurs. His expertise and guidance are invaluable. It's a low investment with the potential for significant future outcomes. - Ronja Spehling

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The validation plan helped me prioritize during a phase where I seemingly had an endless list of threads to pull. But Bram reinforced the importance of taking concrete steps toward specific objectives, supported by my plan. The topic map for interview questions was the most valuable, providing structure due to my limited experience with customer feedback. I highly value Bram's tailored guidance and recommend this service because it helped me establish a solid foundation for future success - Anders Gustafson

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"My Validation Plan helped provide a framework for measuring my idea from different angles, allowing me to think about it more logically. The approaches to investigate the target market were invaluable, offering a good overview of different research methods. The tailored customer interview questions were particularly useful for uncovering different insights. I would recommend this service as a solid starting point for anyone who wants to pursue a new business idea and is looking for credible ways to validate it." - Dan Park

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"The structured approach and precise questions provided a clear path for validating my idea. The Topic Map was especially valuable – it's a solid framework that guided my understanding. With this plan, I'm now starting a new project with greater confidence! Having this plan will help lots of founders to quickly grasp essential validation concepts, and it is a solid foundation for business development." - Faisal Hourani

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"Our Validation Plan expanded our horizon beyond our initial user interviews and introduced us to a variety of specific validation methods. While the impact was more visible in the later stages of our journey, the plan provided a robust structure for idea validation and inspired future experiments. Bram's coaching and approach to structuring validation was particularly enlightening, aiding us in refining our interviews. I highly recommend this service to entrepreneurs for rapid upskilling in idea validation." - Gino Arendsz

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How to interview your potential customers and document your conversations.

Most ideas are about a solution. And how you came up with that solution is based on combining several assumptions. To understand if you really should build the idea you have, it is essential to talk to your potential future users and customers.This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of preparing, conducting, and analyzing customer interviews to gather the data you need to move forward with your ideas.Why is this important? Because you want to be certain that the people you want to service actually have a problem that needs (ie: they want) to be solved.

A "hair on fire" problem is so urgent that customers would desperately accept any solution, even an unconventional one, like using a brick instead of a bucket of water to put out a fire. Even though the brick (obviously) is not the perfect solution.Your focus should be on the problem itself, rather than your product, as customers care about resolving their pain points, not the specifics of how it's done.Understanding the "job to be done" is essential, as it refers to the progress your customer hopes to achieve in a given situation. Jobs can vary in size and frequency, from small and infrequent tasks to large and recurring ones.Customers "hire" a product or service to help them accomplish these jobs, and their satisfaction determines if they will continue using it or seek alternatives.

The primary purpose of customer interviews is to collect data and insights about your target audience. You want to confirm whether your assumptions about their pain points are accurate and gain a deeper understanding of the context surrounding these issues. This can only be achieved through direct interaction with potential customers.Before you start approaching people, it is important to determine who you want to talk to. A general approach for that is to pick a segment from the eventual target customer group you want to reach.For example, you have an app idea focused on mothers.Ask yourself: “Which mothers”?- New mothers?
- Single child mothers?
- Divorced mothers?
- Young mothers?Any customer segment you can think of can always be segmented into smaller, more focused, segments.Pick a segment to interview that you think (assume) will experience and bring you the most value when you talk to them.Prepare by using the topic map in Your Validation Plan to understand the most relevant topics and questions for your interviews.Do not view your topic map and list of suggested interview questions as a script – a customer interview should feel like a natural conversation.

Understanding the types of questions to ask during customer interviews is crucial to obtaining valuable insights. Let's explore the different types of questions you can use. You can find a list of suggested interview questions in Your Validation Plan.1. Open-ended questions: These questions allow your interviewees to provide detailed answers without limiting them to a specific response. Examples include:- Tell me about your experience with X.
- What challenges do you face when trying to accomplish Y?2. Probing questions: Use these to dig deeper into a specific topic, particularly when you sense that the interviewee might have more to share. Examples include:- Can you give me an example of when this happened?
- How did that make you feel?3. Follow-up questions: These questions help you explore the answers your interviewees provide further. Examples include:- You mentioned X, can you tell me more about that?
- Why do you think that happened?4. Comparative questions: These questions allow your interviewees to compare different aspects of their experiences or preferences. Examples include:- How does X compare to Y?
- What do you prefer between A and B, and why?5. Hypothetical questions: Although it's essential to focus on the past and present, occasionally, you might want to ask hypothetical questions to understand your interviewees' decision-making process. Examples include:- If you had the perfect solution for this problem, what would it look like?
- How would you handle this situation if you had unlimited resources?

Try to strike a balance between asking open-ended questions and more specific ones, as well as avoiding leading questions that might skew the interviewee's responses.During the interview (virtual or in-person), set the stage by explaining the purpose of the discussion and encourage honesty. Focus on getting a conversation rather than just asking a series of questions. Look for actionable facts, emotions, and commitment from your interviewees.People will lie to you if you ask the wrong questions. Focus on learning, not selling, and avoid questions about the future.Your goal is to understand your customers better than they know themselves.
Take detailed notes during the interview and pay attention to the actual phrases and quotes used.

🔗 Download the Customer Interviews worksheet to document and analyze your interviews

To summarize:
- Pick a segment from your larger target customer group that you think you could learn the most from.
- Use your topic map and consider the order of your questions.
- Don't script and allow interviews to go off track.
- Listen more than you question (90% listening, 10% questioning).
- Keep silent until it feels uncomfortable to ensure your interviewee has said everything they want to say.
- Confirm understanding by repeating answers.
- If you have a co-founder, try to interview people together.
- Record the audio of the interview (with permission).
- Avoid pitching or selling your idea.
- Be prepared for questions about your project.
- Always ask for referrals to other (similar) people that you could interview.Best of luck!- Bram