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ben goodenough
Courses Plus Student 1,575 PointsValidation of business model canvas assumptions.
In the video tutorial titled "testing our assumptions" it is urged that we validate our previous assumptions made when we created our business model canvas. I wondered if you could advise me on where exactly is best to find "customers" to conduct these tests? For example in my proposed business, I intend to offer a payment solutions between merchants both online and offline and members of the public. So where do I start looking to find these test subjects? Are there established channels in which I may find willing participants? Any help on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Ben.
1 Answer
Erik Sayce
4,704 PointsHi Ben, your question is a little vague, maybe on purpose, but without know exactly which market you're in I'll take a crack at helping you to answer this. You'll have to be creative with your testing but I would first determine what type of client is ether most important to your business, or comes first in the process. For instance if business to business part will generate the majority of your income, or you need them in-order to seek out the end users, you should start there.
Think of a business that you believe would benefit from your product and reach out to them by phone, email, in person or even paper mail with a return envelope. You could provide a brief statement and a survey asking validating questions, ie "do you currently have problem A" and "would product x solve this for you", "what do you currently do when problem A occurs" ect.
Be sure to only ask questions you really need to know the answers to and keep it short. Repeat this process as often as possible.
You can do the same steps for offline end uses or B2C people you know. If you can't find any leads I've had success with incentive's paired with a Facebook ad to my target market with a landing page with a survey on it (This is where the creativity comes in).
All in all, you want this part of finding customers to be feasible. If it seems impossible to find customers that want your product then that right there should be a red flag and possibly the validation you're seeking.