How do I know if my idea stinks?

My idea sucks…

Is something I hear founders say all the time.

What does that mean?

The reality is that every idea sucks…until they don’t.

The goal isn’t to judge your ideas prematurely.

Rather we want our goal to be.

How do I validate if this idea is worth working on?

So how do we do that?

And more importantly…

How do we do that fast?

1. The Brain Dump: Write down every idea you have without judgment.

Remember every idea stinks until you prove it doesn’t.

So there is nothing to judge at this point.

So without judging yourself, write down every business idea you have.

Using the framework shared in point #2.

2. The Framework: Use the following framework to brainstorm.

ID your target industry: What industry does your product or service belong to?

For example: If you are building a software company for businesses.

You are part of the Software Industry. 

If you are building a Shopify store…

You are joining the E-commerce Industry. 

ID target customer/market: Who is the person you think is going to buy your product or service?

And be VERY specific.

Name them…

What position are they at ABC Company?

Who/what are they in the world?

Example: “I want to sell to parents of middle school children in Raleigh North Carolina.”
Example 2: “I want to sell to mobile donut shop owners in San Diego.”

I made these up of course…

But my point is, that you want to get VERY specific about whom you are selling.

The tighter you can get the stronger the likelihood of finding your “hair on fire” customers.

Those are the people you need most when going from 0-1.

ID your business model: Are you a subscription or membership?

Are you a one-time purchase?

Are you a set price or does your price change based on certain factors?

Like most things on this list, your price will change as the business develops

So don’t overthink it.

A good approach to take when thinking about your pricing…

ID your target channels: How will you find the people you think will buy your product/service?

Could it be social media?

Or perhaps in-person sales/networking?

Decide what you THINK could work and who you are looking to reach.


ID target price-point: If you have no idea what you would charge think…

What value does this provide to my consumer's lives?

How much are the alternative solutions my customer could be picking right now?

ID your key outcome: What is the single metric to determine success or failure?

Is it meetings booked?

Or maybe trials started?

This should align with your potential sales process.

By the end, your experiment should be framed as follows:

I am looking to build a company in <insert industry> for <Insert customer> at <insert price>. I will reach them by <insert method>. I will determine success or failure based on <insert key outcome> in <insert timeline in days> or less.

If it works double down.

If it doesn’t cross it off.

I provide a free template to help with this exercise on my app TeachOne. 

To use and remix, however, you want.

3. The Gut check: Why am I the one to execute this idea?

In the land of endless opportunity, we have to be selective about what we choose to spend our time on.

And businesses take time to develop…

So better to choose something we actually give a f*ck about.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself ⬇️

What makes me passionate about the problem/market/industry?

What makes me uniquely positioned to solve the problem?

What makes me prepared to build this company? (Financially/Spiritually/Mentally)

What would building this business enable me to do?

What would building this business constrain me from doing?

Am I ok with those tradeoffs?

Now you have what you need to quickly test the ideas you have in your head.

And start crossing the ones that actually stink off your list.

So now the question becomes…

What are you waiting for?

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