I love product ideas. In fact, I have plenty of them. But all of us only have 24 hours per day and we often need to seriously evaluate the potential of our ideas before jumping into it. I did my share of mistakes by jumping the gun and the results proved to be painful. Thus, I’m here to help you learn from my mistakes. Here are some questions you need to ask yourself before you commit to building a prototype for your product idea.
How realistic is this product idea?
Will it work? Can it be built? I had an idea of a low-cost, low-power IoT device that remotely measures every home’s electricity consumption without needing personnel to visit each home. Yes, there are smart meters already in the market but they need a reliable Internet connection – this is the inherent problem. We can’t expect each WiFi connection in each home to be reliable enough to send meter readings to the utility provider each time. And what about the cost? There are just too many questions than answers to this idea which makes it unrealistic – at least for now.
What is the market potential?
In other words, market size. Or at least, think about how many products you can potentially sell in a week or a month. This means if you put your product on the market, do you think there will be enough buyers to make it worthwhile to commercialize it?
Most of us might think, well, I’ll just conduct some market surveys. Well, I’m not a firm believer in market surveys. As Steve Jobs famously said, “People don’t know what they want until they get it.” I did enough market surveys to know it doesn’t really work – especially for new and innovative product ideas. So, you have to put your product right in front of their faces for them to test drive it to know if they want it.
How much can I sell it for?
What is the potential revenue? If you think people are not willing to pay much for it, you might want to rethink your idea. Some products are not worth a dime. For example, you can’t sell a browser extension software upfront unless it offers jaw-dropping compelling value. It usually comes with a free version or is part of a paid or subscription plan.
But you should also note that if you have an idea that everyone might need, like aspirin, even though it might cost a dollar for nine tablets, you have the entire world to sell to!
How do I market the product?
The topic that most thinkers and engineers hate to immerse their brains into. Every product needs some sort of marketing for the world to know about it. So, what is your marketing strategy? How do you plan to tell your target market about it?
One effective free marketing example I employed is answering questions on Quora or Reddit. If someone asks a question and you think your product can answer their problem, you should reply. But please be subtle, or otherwise, you may be labeled a spammer or an illegal advertiser.
Another strategy is asking for feedback online. Post a thread telling your demographics about what you have built and ask them what they think. Better still, let them test drive it, if possible.
What is my personal goal with this product?
Are you looking to retire with millions of dollars in your bank account? Are you doing this just because you have this itchy idea sitting on your head for months and you can’t shake it off? For side income perhaps?
Once a person came to me with an idea to build an ice-cream refrigerator door alarm system thinking it would change the world. You can figure the rest out…
My point is that you need to evaluate your product potential against your personal goals. If you want to be the next Elon Musk, you can’t do it by selling paper clips.
Understand what you wish to achieve with your product. Maybe you just want to file a patent for your invention. Or you just want to have that “been there, done that” euphoria.
I usually advise most people to start small and grow big later. This means if you have an idea, go ahead and do it. But don’t quit your day job just yet. Build and sell your product on the side. Once you gained enough traction and revenue, consider moving full-time, if that’s the plan.
Am I a thinker or a doer?
This last question is the most peculiar of all. We sometimes forget to ask ourselves if we can deliver the promise we made to ourselves.
Some of us lack the courage or the determination to go the extra mile to bring an idea to reality. It forever sits on our heads. Some jump into it too quickly and forget to look back and fail on the way there.
Perhaps it’s best to get someone to help you develop your product idea so that you can do the thinking and they can do the doing.