Yes, of course. If budget is not an issue, GTM is our recommendation even if you are at the IDEA stage. We can provide significant help under the GTM plan, including Volunteer intelligence.
Thanks to Gen AI tools, hacking together your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has become easy and faster. After all, all you need is to explain your need through a prompt. You can also use AI to validate your idea. But is this enough? You can easily build a team with SkilledUp Life to systematically validate your idea alongside Gen AI tools before you flush down the toilet your scarce resources; time and money. After all, what's the point of building a product that no one wants? Would you rather not build a product with customers who wants to pay upfront?
Do you have enough time to manage the validation process? If not, recruit a Project Manager Volunteer from SkilledUp Life as Team Leader. Together, you can develop the idea further whilst recruiting the rest of the validation team.
A Team Leader could help you by:
- Building your Ideal Validation Team and keeping everyone focused.
- Be the co-ordinator between you and the team members.
- Agree the validation timeline and tasks.
- Reporting on the progress of delivering the outcomes agreed.
- Train the team to understand the idea and the approaches that need to be taken to achieve the overall result.
- Deliver the final report on validating the idea including the prototype.
Before you can design a solution, you need to understand the problem you plan to solve as deeply as you can as part of your idea validation.
A Market Researcher functioning as a Problem Analyst can survey people and/or companies through online surveys, social media and forums.
During these conversations, the Problem Analyst should start to narrow down the target audience, the Ideal Customer Persona (ICP).
Research should lead to identifying how the ICP solves the problem today and any technology tools used in the process including identifying any competitors.
Competitor Analyst takes on the initial competitors identified by the Problem Analyst and conduct detailed market research into understand the competitive landscape, both in terms of direct as well as indirect competition. During the analysis of competitors, the functions and features provided by the competitors should be logged and segmented. As the solution is conceptualised, it’s vital to understand how best to position your own future product in the competitive landscape and how you would eventually differentiate and create a competitive advantage.
Customer Development Analyst takes on the research being carried out by Problem, Competitor and Product Analysts and start to identify initial customer cohorts. These customer cohorts are further segmented to identify those who are willing to collaborate closely and might even pre-pay before the product development starts. ICP can change as the product evolves. You need to collaborate closely with the Product Analyst to ensure you are not just speaking to one customer cohort.
Whilst the Problem, Competitor and Customer Development Analysts are gathering data, the Product Analyst should start to conceptualise the product that will solve the problem by producing the Product Roadmap, initial mock ups and the top level specification.
Prototyping Analyst should take on the outcomes achieved by Problem, Competitor, Customer Development and Product Analysts and start to create the prototype of the initial product for gaining further feedback from identified customer cohorts. Tools such as Figma and Lovable could play a significant part in prototyping. Thanks to Gen AI, prototyping should no longer be limited to wireframes. The prototype should be sufficient for ICP to provide useful feedback. Remember, in Idea Validation, you aim is not to build a full product, but enough to validate the idea.
Starting with SkilledUp Life and building your idea validation team starts with signing up as a company, creating your profile, selecting a plan, subscribing, sharing your recruitment plans and landing on your SkilledUp Life Dashboard.
Once landed, you can start listing your first recruitment needs, which starts by selecting the appropriate Opportunity Template and assigning the relevant Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ).
Once listed, SkilledUp Lifers will start to apply by responding to the PQQ. You can also headhunt within the 60,000+ Volunteer List and invite suitable Volunteers to apply using direct messaging.
We recommend you to start your SkilledUp Life journey by recruiting an HR Volunteer who can manage your SkilledUp Life Dashboard and find the best team mates and an Executive Assistant Volunteer who could improve your productivity by taking on adhoc tasks.
Find quick answers to the most common questions asked about the IDEA plan and SkilledUp Life.
Yes, of course. The higher plans provide more flexibility and support.
Yes, of course. If budget is not an issue, GTM is our recommendation even if you are at the IDEA stage. We can provide significant help under the GTM plan, including Volunteer intelligence.
The IDEA plan allows a maximum of 5 Opportunities to be listed at any given time. Consider upgrading to the PRODUCT or GTM plan.
The IDEA plan allows your team to be a maximum of 15 Volunteer Team members. Consider upgrading to the PRODUCT or GTM plan.
Once you have received applications, you need to review them and progress. If the Applicant is not a good fit for your current needs, reject them and explain the reason for rejection. If not rejected, progress to Review followed by Interview. Use Direct Messaging to communicate as much as possible.
We know your time is precious as a tech founder. An HR Volunteer is ideally suited to list and manage Opportunities, find the best talent and manage the recruitment process. You are also helping an HR professional to gain more hands-on experience. A win win for both parties.
While Gen AI is great for personal productivity, having a personal assistant who is good at ad hoc tasks could help you further improve your own productivity.
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