Living in the Bay Area of California, I see many entrepreneurs coming here to test their business concepts and ideas. Visionary businesses flock here for talent, connections, and most of all funds. It seems every few months a new startup gets funded for millions of dollars validating their idea.
Perhaps that sounds familiar, and business concepts are something you want to test. It used to take several months in planning and A/B testing just to validate an idea. One might run the idea by friends and family only to get discouraged because they simply don’t understand the technology.
Well, now with the second brain on ChatGPT, you can train the model to check your idea if it’s something worth perusing or leaving on the shelf to collect dust.
Use ChatGPT to validate your idea with these prompts.
Step 1. Do you have an unfair advantage to leverage?
If you plan on starting a business, you need clarity in your objective to start this endeavor. Is it that you are skilled in this certain area? Or do you have a wide network of people that can help you put the pieces together? Ask yourself, what is my WHY for starting this business?
Ask ChatGPT for an assessment of synergy with this prompt:
“I’m thinking of starting a business that [ describe what this business does] and I want to understand my unique strengths in making it a success. I have experience in [describe your experience] and expertise in [describe your expertise]. I have access to people who [describe your network]. Can you give me the reasons why this will and won’t be a success based on my situation?”
2. Understanding your customer avatar
From personal experience, you can’t please anyone with your products or services. What I found best was to hone in on a particular niche customer base that wanted what I had to offer. This is how one can also build a community of like-minded people. But first, you need to figure out who they are and if what you are offering them will solve a pain point they have. With this second step, ChatGPT already knows about our business we just have to feed it data on your customer.
Here is the prompt:
“Now you know what business I want to start, can you suggest who might be the ideal customer for this business? can you describe their demographics and explain what problems they might have, that my business might solve? Please rank these problems in order, starting with the most important thing to them. Next, tell me what products or services they are currently using to solve these problems.”
Step 3. Is there a demand for your idea
By this point, you have validated your business idea and now have an idea of how to solve the pain points of your ideal customer. You are probably thinking to yourself that you can actually pull this off and move to the Bay Area and get funding. Now, let’s assist the demand for your product to validate that the ideal customer will want your product or services. We want to make sure the demand is there to push you through the down cycles of business.
Let’s move the goalpost with this prompt:
“Can you give me 3 main reasons why someone would want to buy my product or service? Next, estimate how many people in [location, if applicable] could be in my target audience, and tell me the size of this market and its likely growth over the next five years. Please also include any adjacent markets to explore.”
4. Collect data feedback
Now we need some actual market participation to see if we have a product-market fit. Present your value proposition to your ideal customer to see where they are at in the journey. This is where you need to listen to their concerns, desires, and needs. This way you can refine your product or service to better fit the problem you are hoping to solve. Again, don’t use your friends and family as your test sample. Go out there and really find those potential customers.
Here is a way to gather this data with this prompt:
“Create a survey for my potential audience. Start by giving a description of my business and who it’s for, to set the scene. For the first question, create three compelling value propositions that address how my business solves a problem for them, and ask which value proposition most resonates. Next, ask how likely they would be to buy, and then ask what this new concept would need to do to win their business. Finally, give me options on how I collect this feedback from my target audience.”
5. Creating an MVP (minimum viable product)
Surveys are a great way to engage with your target audience and learn how it might be a fit for them. However, creating something that they can actually test drive will take you to the next level of testing.
Let’s explore a way to create an MVP with ChatGPT.
“How do I create a minimum viable product (MVP) or prototype, to test my business idea with real users and gather their insights? Include information such as how much this might cost and the steps to make it happen. Include what metrics I should look out for to know if my idea is worth pursuing.”
In conclusion, after you have put your idea forward to the right audience and gathered data to make a viable product that you are solving a problem in the market and you feel like your skills match this endeavor, you are most likely ready to pack up and move to Silicon Valley. The goal from here is to keep validating your idea. Maybe put a website up so people can be put on a waiting list to be the first to see the finished product when it launches.
Maybe this particular idea doesn’t resonate with you or maybe it doesn’t resonate with your target market. It’s okay! It’s all part of the growing process and getting to understand real-world business experience. Use this simple framework to try your next great idea until one happens to be the perfect market fit for you and the customer.
Prompts created by Jodie Cook.
