1. If nobody else is doing it, why?
I took this from Marc Randolph’s That Will Never Work podcast.
Is the idea truly unique? Is it difficult to make commercially viable? Or have people already tried and failed?
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, but go in with your eyes open and think about what you might not be seeing.
2. If lots of people are already doing it, is that actually a bad sign?
There are probably 10,000+ nutrition trackers, including products from huge companies worth hundreds of millions.
I built another one.
Bad idea? Maybe.
But it is currently doing around $6,000 a month in recurring revenue, which is proof that competition doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
Competition can also be proof that people want the thing.
I had a competitive edge here, so it was a good idea for me. It might not be for the next person.
3. What is the smallest version you can put in front of someone?
Not the complete app. Just enough to see whether someone will use it, pay for it or come back.
Write it on a piece of paper. Make a manual version in a spreadsheet if you need to.
I definitely didn’t validate everything perfectly before I started. I started building, got feedback, tested, watched what people actually did and kept adjusting.
Whatever your idea, experiment. Build.
You will learn more than you will from any online course or thought-piece LinkedIn post.
Competition can also be proof that people want the thing.