One thing all startups must do before investing in the development of their product is to check that there is a “market fit”, that is, that there is a sufficient number of customers willing to pay the price of the product to solve the problem that the product aims to solve.
It would be correct to check the market fit before developing a product but the reality is that many startups are born
from an idea and the founders’ belief that the idea will be successful.
Unfortunately cemeteries are full of startups that had a good idea and a very interesting product but without market fit.
Many simplify this concept by saying that doing business is 10% idea and 90% execution.
Such a simplification is correct but the word “execution” hides many elements of a successful business on which there is a rich literature that is constantly ignored by the majority of startups.
In the world of software, you often hear the advice repeated: scratch your own hitch and then look for all the customers who
have your same problem. If this is a case that sometimes works for developers’ tools, rarely it is successful in the business world.
One thing all startups must do before investing in the development is to solve customers problem
Much better to look for your first customer, to solve a concrete business problem and evaluate how many other similar companies in the world may have the same need.
Microsoft was born this way. Allen and Gates developed a Basic simulator for the Altair 8800 and the company was founded and developed the interpreter Basic only after MITS, the manufacturer of the Altair 8800, has agreed to distribute it as Altair Basic.
The rest is history.
Many successful companies are born with their first customer.
