How do you validate B2B startup ideas?

[sidjainla]

Suppose you find an inefficiency with your company's software development process. You think of a product idea to solve this problem. Before starting a company, what is the best process for validating the idea, making sure other companies have the same problem?

What stakeholders at other companies do you need to talk to and what's the best approach to gain their cooperation to discuss your ideas?

Please respond if you've successfully done this before. Thanks.

[niko001]

During such an early stage, I would do it in an "inofficial capacity" - do you have friends at other companies who work in a similar role as you? I would reach out to them and gauge their reaction, from "sounds like a neat idea" to "oh my god, I literally spend 1 hour a day on this and I've been looking for a solution to this since forever. I (or my boss) would pay for this in a heartbeat!". I've found "The Mom Test" by Rob Fitzpatrick to be great for guiding you along this process step by step. When asking friends, there's the risk of running into something called "interviewer bias", where they will rate your idea more positively simply because they like you (and would have dismissed it if some random stranger had proposed the same idea), so that's something to watch out for if you go down this route. Good luck!

[sidjainla]

Thank you. I like your mindset. Email me anytime sidjain at gmail