Hello!

In today’s newsletter: how to validate your startup idea without spending a fortune.

If you’ve got a good idea, you’ll want to go all in but remember, just because you think it’s a good idea doesn’t mean the world wants it.

You need to validate before you waste time and money.

Here’s how 👇

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Here’s what to expect today:

📰 Story: How Freddie’s Flowers validated their idea fast and affordably

🧠 Insight: Interact with customers 1-1

💪🏼 DIY: How to get customer feedback, fast and affordably

🔗 Good links: Interesting reads on personas, product-market fit and psychology

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📰 Story

How Freddie’s Flowers validated their idea fast and affordably

Freddie’s Flowers does 25,000+ deliveries a week, but a lot of their success can be attributed to their slow approach at the beginning.

Unsure of whether his idea would work, Freddie went door to door to see if people would sign up for deliveries — no website, no branding, just an A4 piece of paper with a flower sketch.

He tested his idea in the easiest, cheapest way possible.

And he got feedback fast.

“My sales pitch was very simple: do you want a regular weekly delivery of flowers? I managed to get four people on that first night” — Freddie.

This approach helped him confirm he was onto something.

And it taught him what customers really valued about his offering.

He would even deliver flowers and wait to take payment later. He’d deliver them, then call to make sure they were happy and ask for payment.

This allowed him to refine the offering and understand what people were willing to pay for.

This approach even informed branding later on.

“We had the opportunity to speak directly to our customers and ask them what they would look for in terms of branding and what would catch their eye. Customers said they loved how we were personal, approachable and friendly, so we wanted to make sure our branding reflected that.”

By quickly and cheaply validating his idea, Freddie knew it was worth investing in further.

He was then able to build a valuable offering for his audience right from the beginning.

For the first two years, all Freddie's Flowers customers came from knocking on doors.

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🧠 Insight

Interact with customers 1-1

Speaking to people directly is the fastest and most affordable way to validate your idea.

Make the most of being small and the opportunity to interact with customers 1-1. That’s how you’ll gain real insight into what they love most about you and what you can build your brand around.

“I quickly learnt the best way to get someone’s attention on their doorstep was not to say I was from a large company, rather to say, “Hi, I’m Freddie and Freddie’s Flowers is my new business. Would you be interested in receiving a weekly delivery of flowers?” That honesty was, and still is, key.”
— Freddie

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💪 DIY

How to get customer feedback, fast and affordably

• Start locally (or wherever a group of your ideal customers live) and knock on doors. Even if you’re just asking for email addresses before you launch, you’ll get a good idea of whether there’s genuine interest or not.
• Reach out to potential customers on social media and see if they’d like to try your product for free in exchange for feedback. Avoid large influencers; go for real people who would genuinely benefit from using your product/service.
• Take your idea to an event e.g. a local market or trade show.

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🔗 Good links

🔗 A Buyer Persona Generator from Hubspot.

🔗 6 questions to assess Product-Market Fit.

🔗 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

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