First-time entrepreneurs and founders tend to jump into a new business venture with an exciting idea without doing their due diligence to validate whether there is a market need. Very likely, you may not be the first person to come up with your business idea! Below are some ways through which such entrepreneurs can narrow down and identify the right business idea for their start-up:
1. Look At Your Skill Set
If it is challenging to create a unique start-up concept, perhaps you might first look into developing products and solutions that only those with your technical expertise can create as a starting point. For instance, if you are a trained pharmacist, you might be exposed to problems within the pharmaceutical industry of which the public may not be aware. If you can create a solution specifically tailored for that niche, this might offer your product and start-up a competitive advantage. Therefore, figure out how to leverage your technical skills to create a product that should solve a problem as a way to launch your start-up.
2. Find a New Niche
Focusing on a niche market can help entrepreneurs narrow down their customer’s pain points and develop a better solution or product that fits their needs. Here are a few ways of discovering your niche market:
Identify the consumers’ problems
Look at the existing businesses already in the market. These businesses are your competitors, and you should learn from some of their evident mistakes.
Define the niche and focus on its profitability
Test your services or products. Even though your product might be unique, product-market testing helps evaluate multiple aspects of your company. In addition, it gives you unsolicited feedback, such as changing your packaging or adjusting the price.
3. Ask the Potential Customers
Perform customer discovery interviews with potential clients you think might be the best fit for your product. You might be surprised by how much you will learn from these interviews which would be helpful in developing a product.
Finding your niche as an entrepreneur can be challenging as there are countless ideas you can turn into a venture. By developing products or solutions based on your background, finding your niche, and performing customer discovery interviews, you can avoid these pitfalls to improve your chances for start-up success. Find out how you can create more business ideas on Train Like a Scientist, Think Like an Entrepreneur (available on Amazon today).