How to Keep a Startup Idea Journal
Intrigued about how to refine and fortify your budding startup ideas? Dive into this article and discover the transformative power of maintaining a startup idea journal, your secret weapon for idea incubation and venture success.
How to Keep a Startup Idea Journal
The exhilaration of a new business idea, like a shooting star, is fleeting. It's a fleeting burst of brilliance that often fades if not captured promptly. Enter the Startup Idea Journal, a tool fashioned to help you grasp, nurture, and mature your entrepreneurial thoughts.
In This Article:
10 Questions to Get Started Idea Journaling
The first 4 questions prompt you to describe your idea, your target market, business model, and the features and benefits of your product or service.
The next 4 questions prompt you to explore the problem or need your idea is solving, the frequency and severity of the problem, how your target market is solving this problem now, and how your solution compares to current alternatives.
The final two questions prompt you to think about what you do not know, but need to find out in order to further evaluate your idea and the action steps necessary to carry it out.
Writing down your ideas also helps you to focus. According to business author and professor Michael LeBoeuf, “When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.”
What's Your Big Idea? (Questions 1-4)
1. What is my idea?
The first step in journaling your new venture idea involves detailing your concept. You should describe your idea as succinctly and clearly as possible.
2. Who is it for & how will I reach (market to) them?
You also have to consider and describe who your product or service is created for. Who will your customers be? Try to describe your target customer in as much detail as possible. Even if you have a product or service that you believe will appeal to “everyone”, your time and resources are limited, and so you should focus on your best or most likely customers.
Thinking about, learning about, and understanding your most likely customers also provides you with some information on how to effectively reach and market to them. Think about how they spend their time, what they read, the social media platforms they use and how often, and what gets their attention.
3. How will I sell my product or service & what is my business model?
The next important component of your new venture idea concerns how you will sell your product or service and your business model. Business models are composed of (1) your idea, (2) your target market(s), (3) your revenue streams, and (4) your cost structure.
There are a number of options to collect revenue for your product or service. Think about not only how and where you will sell, but also consider your revenue models and as well as their alternatives (one-time transactions, recurring or subscription revenue, rental & leasing, licensing, per use?)
4. What are the primary features or benefits?
Finally, you should list the primary (as well as any potential or planned) features and benefits that are central to your product or service idea.
What Does it Look Like
For some ideas, it can be especially helpful to understand what your product or service will look like. This could be a representation of your product or a diagram that outlines the steps in your service, the customer experience, or anything that helps clarify your idea.
What's the Problem (Questions 5-8)
5. What is the underlying problem I am solving?
One way to look at ideas for new products and services are as solutions to customer problems. Your customers choose to do business with you because your product or service helps them complete a task or solve a problem.
By focusing on solving a problem, you become less tied to your solution, and more dedicated to providing solutions that fit your customers needs.
Once you identify an initial problem you are solving, ask yourself why customers are motivated to solve this problem. You may have to ask yourself why at least 3 to 5 times to get at the real underlying problem that your focus should be on solving.
What is the true underlying problem that your new venture idea is solving?
6. How painful is this problem? How frequently or severely do my target customers experience this problem?
It is also important to know how big the problem you are solving really is. Consider whether your problem is a significant problem, and for how many people.
Does it cause a significant amount of frustration and pain? Is it a frequent problem? Who (and how many) are affected by this problem?
7. How do my potential customers solve this problem now?
It may also be helpful to think about how your potential customers are currently solving this problem. What other solutions are available? How do these solutions focus on solving this problem?
8. How does my solution uniquely solve this problem?
Finally, you should consider how your solution solves this problem and what makes your solution unique. How do you solve this problem differently than your competitors? Or How does your solution create additional value for your customers that they are not receiving from their current solutions?
What’s Next? (Questions 9-10)
9. What do I not know, but need to find out?
Thus far, your idea has primarily been based on a set of assumptions or hypotheses. Some of your assumptions may be well estimated calculations, but others are likely to be less informed.
In order to come up with a list of next steps, take some time to think about what you do not know, but need to find out in order to evaluate or test your assumptions or take the next step in exploring your new venture idea.
10. What are the action steps I need to take next?
The last step before making an initial evaluation of your idea is to map out the action steps that you need to take next in order to carry out your idea.
Mapping out the next required steps helps you further assess what you do not know, and allows you to better evaluate the skills and competencies that you will need to possess or acquire to move your idea toward becoming a successful new venture.
Takeaways
Maintaining a startup idea journal with these guiding questions can help you stay focused, organized, and systematically build upon your initial idea. Remember, your idea is just the start. It's the careful nurturing and development of this idea that can transform it into a successful venture.