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It is not so difficult to come up with an idea for a IT startup. However, it is challenging to come up with an original idea that would generate demand that people would be willing to pay for.
In this article, IT businessman and investor, Rustam Gilfanov, shares simple methods of testing the idea of almost any IT startup, from a small application to a large software product. No matter how much experience you have and how confident you are in your idea, you should never neglect these six key steps.
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1. Conduct Research
The easiest way to research IT startup ideas is to open a search engine and look for information about similar projects. You can even find similar topics on forums or YouTube. Find out whether someone has done this idea before and whether their efforts were successful. If not, check what they did wrong and how you can avoid these types of errors.
It is also worth exploring information about current trends in startups, business models, unit economics, metrics, and marketing.
2. Make Sure There Is Enough Demand In the Market
Most startups fail because of a lack of demand from the market. You need to be sure that your idea will help people solve their real problems. Plus, these problems should be relevant for more than a handful of individuals.
To quickly assess the demand in the market, you can turn to the analysis of search query statistics. Simply enter keywords and get their statistics, demand dynamics, and similar search phrases.
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3. Talk to Your Target Audience
Do not regard your friends and acquaintances as your target audience for your IT startup. First, they are subjective. Second, they are not numerous enough. You want to focus on your potential customers. Create a Google questionnaire or a survey on social networks, go to a thematic forum to gather input on your target audience and future customers.
4. Know Your Startup’s Rivals
If you have never created similar products before and have not worked in the target niche, find people who have already succeeded in this sphere. So, by studying the cases of your competitors, you can learn how other companies in the industry solve similar problems and what you can borrow from them. Do not be afraid of competition and do not try to avoid it. It’s also important not to copy existing startups. Always think about how to meet customer needs faster and cheaper.
5. Create a Landing Page
You can do this even without an MVP. All you need is to get a vision of your future product. At this stage, you have to spend money on advertising, but checking the idea will give you more confidence in the relevance of your product. It is enough to register a domain, create a landing page in any site constructor, add a feedback form, connect web analytics and analyze the information received. It is very likely that you will adjust your strategy based on user feedback.
6. Know How to Make Money from Your Startup Idea
Even the strongest idea can end in nothing if you do not know how to make money on your product. You need to understand how to monetize a startup, what potential market size your product has and how many customers you need to attract to reach the break-even point.
Who Is Rustam Gilfanov?
Rustam Gilfanov is a co-founder of an IT company, IT businessman and international investor.In 2006, Rustam Gilfanov, together with his partners, opened an international outsourcing IT company in Kyiv. Today, this company is the largest developer of software for the gaming, marketing and finance industries.
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