1. Create a Minimum Viable Product
The very best way to find out if your idea is worth pursuing is to create a minimum viable product. A minimum viable product has only the most basic core features of your idea and nothing more i.e. no bells and whistles! Creating a minimum viable product allows you to get your idea out there in front of people to get valuable feedback without putting exorbitant amounts of time and money into its creation. After all, your idea may not float in which case its back to the drawing board. Virgin Airlines started with a single 747 in 1984 on one route. From this minimal service they were able to determine whether the idea was worth pursuing. Today Virgin Airlines is a booming business, but like many others they started out small.
2. Test it Out
Once you’ve got a minimum viable product out there it’s time to test it out! Get real people using it and use it yourself. Does it work? Can it be improved? How? Testing your idea and answering these big questions will help you decide if your idea is worth pursuing. Twitter started out as a small service among just a handful of friends. In these early days they were able to test the service and improve on it based on results. Today Twitter is a booming online service with millions of active users sharing daily.
3. Seek Feedback Regularly
Seeking feedback is not something that happens just once in a testing phase. Seeking feedback regularly while bringing your idea to life will help you find out if it’s worth pursuing every step along the way and importantly if you’re on the right track as you progress. The best feedback is from those people who most closely fit your target market i.e. the intended end users of your product or service. You can also seek initial feedback from friends and family. Although these people are potentially not in your target market they will likely have some good feedback nonetheless. Gather as much feedback as you can as often as you can to give your idea the best chance of success.
4. Assess the Level of Passion in Responses
To find out if your idea is worth pursuing you’ll need to assess how passionate the response is toward your idea. Rate responses on a scale of 1-10 and keep track of the scores over time. It can be as simple as keeping score in a computer spreadsheet and regularly checking in to see how you’re tracking over time. Passion is a great predictor of success so start assessing it early on to get a good idea of whether your idea is worth pursuing and how the level of passion among users is changing over time.
5. Be Excited in the Early Stages
You’ll never know if your idea is worth pursuing if you don’t put everything you have into it in the early stages. Don’t be shy of sharing your idea with others around you and pursuing it fully. Get out there are really put your idea out there for the world to see! Be excited and throw yourself into the process by putting your heart and soul into it and you’ll be rewarded with progress and being one step closer to having a stellar idea that others want to be part of. Being excited, passionate and committed in the early stages will give your idea the best chance of success and help you find out if it’s worth pursuing further. You might also like: How to Consistently Come Up With Great Ideas Featured photo credit trophygeek via Flickr CC. Featured photo credit: trophygeek via Flickr CC via flickr.com
