You have an idea for a bootstrapped product but your not sure if the idea is any good or not. The following is a list of 10 questions you can use to evaluate your idea. You don’t need to use them all or you can add some more of your own. The point of them is to get you thinking about your product idea from different angles and hopefully be better placed to execute it.
Question 1.
Is this a Business to Customer product?
NOTE: Selling to the public can be hard but if the idea is a retail idea then great but if you are thinking about building the next Facebook then think again 😉
Question 2.
Does your target market spend money on other things like your product?
NOTE: You are bootstrapping this product, so it needs to sell for real money to customers who have money to spend.
Question 3.
Is your target market online?
NOTE: Having a target market online is ideal as you can use all forms of digital marketing to target them from Facebook, Twitter and Google ads to Content Marketing, etc.
Question 4.
Do you have any experience in this market?
NOTE: If you do not have any expertise in this market you might be in danger of misunderstanding a problem or thinking the problem you are solving is bigger or more painful than it is.
Question 5.
How big is your target market?
NOTE: Sometimes a market can be too big or too small for a bootstrapper. Be careful to study the size of the market to make sure you can get sales and don’t have to compete too much with bigger rivals. Also, make sure the market for the product is not too small or else you will be wasting your time and money.
Question 6.
Is your product a paid product?
NOTE: If your bootstrapping do you have the budget for a free or freemium product?
Question 7.
Do you see yourself still working on this product in 5 years time? And how would you feel?
NOTE: Do you love the idea? Is it a get rich quick scheme or a fade. The more realistic about this with yourself, the better.
Question 8.
What is your marketing plan?
NOTE: I don’t mean a detailed plan but have you thought about how you will get your product in front of customers? Getting on TechCrunch or to the top of HackerNews or Product Hunt is not a marketing plan 😉
Question 9.
Will your product take long to build?
NOTE: If you are bootstrapping a product you need to be realistic about what you are building. If it’s going to take a long time you might get sidetracked or disheartened or lose energy for it.
Question 10.
How much time do you have to dedicate to this product?
NOTE: This goes hand in hand with the above question if you don’t have much free time to work on your product try and make it simpler.
Question 11.
Does your product solve a problem that a customer will spend money on to solve?
NOTE: You could have the best product in the world but if it does solve a problem for a user why would they spend money on it?
