r/thinkbeforeubuild

I think this is such a great exercise.

You know what often happens when I do free feedback on business ideas and ask founders to describe what they do in two sentences?

"Well, it's complicated."

And I always say the same thing:

• If you can't describe your business in a simple one-liner, you don't really have a business.

Most people get a little cranky when I say that.

A one-liner is simply the answer to the question: "What do you do?"

It's a single statement that helps people quickly understand why they need your product or service.

Start with the problem, then position your product or service as the solution.

So, let's do this!!!

Drop your one-liner below. Even a caveman should understand it.

Speak soon,
Jan

Hey,
I’d like to share something.

I always had a problem with building things before testing them with customers. I was missing patience and immediately jumped into creating a website, coding an application, preparing a marketing campaign, etc.

One time, I spent a full year building a business and got 0 leads. I lost $400, but the most important thing was the time. I almost quit everything.

After I read a couple of books like The Mom Test, Million Dollar Weekend, and The Lean Startup, I decided to focus only on testing before building anything and tried different ways to test business ideas with customers.

I just want to share the easiest method that worked really well for me.

Maybe it can also help somebody test an idea quickly, with no money and just 2 days off.

I WROTE THE IDEA DOWN ON PAPER:
• What is the business idea?
• What makes it unique?
• What problem does it solve?
• How will it make money?

I DEFINED MY TARGET AUDIENCE (THE MOST IMPORTANT PART)
• What goals do they have?
• What do they care about?
• What do they struggle with?

In this case, I tested on LinkedIn, so I described what my ideal customer looks like on LinkedIn, such as location, job title, work experience, etc.

Then I prepared a list of 50 contacts like this.

I WROTE A SHORT MESSAGE WITH ADDITIONAL VALUE.

The purpose wasn't to sell anything, just to get people to fill out a short form.

I PREPARED A GOOGLE FORM WITH 5 QUESTIONS:
• Are they really my target audience?
• Do they actually struggle with the problem I’m trying to solve?
• How are they solving it now?
• Would they use my product?
• Would they pay for it?

And I asked if they would be interested in early access and, if YES, to leave their EMAIL.

I SENT 50 MESSAGES AND GOT 6 EMAIL LEADS, which is 6 more than I got after spending 1 year building a website.