Five measurable experiments
Go-to-market
Growth Marketing for Startups: Your First Five Experiments
Growth marketing for startups after launch: how to write a testable hypothesis, prioritise with ICE, and run your first five measurable experiments.
Blog · page 4 of 5
All articles, page 4
Write-ups on validating an AI startup idea before building it: what the evidence says, what founders get wrong at go-to-market, and what we learn running the playbooks with them.
One channel, then more
Go-to-market
Startup Marketing Strategy: Choose Your First Channel First
A startup marketing strategy that starts with one channel: list the options, test a few cheaply in parallel, and commit to the one that works before scaling.
Free tools, honest results
Students and Universities
Free Online Survey Platform Workflow for a Student Startup
A free online survey platform workflow for a student startup idea: interview first, write a short survey, recruit the right people and read results honestly.
Surveys, with limits
Comparisons
Online Survey Tools for Startup Validation: What They Show
Online survey tools for startup validation: what surveys can and cannot tell you, why panel samples mislead, and how to use a survey alongside interviews.
Five kinds, one checklist
Comparisons
Competitive Intelligence Tools for Startups: How to Evaluate
Competitive intelligence tools for startups: the five kinds of tool, what each is for, and a checklist to evaluate them before you add another subscription.
Choose the niche with data
Validation guides
Market Intelligence for AI Startups: Research Before a Niche
Market intelligence for AI startups: what to research before choosing a niche, which free public data sources to use, and how to compare niches side by side.
Competitors, on the record
Go-to-market
Competitive Intelligence for Founders: Evidence to Decisions
Competitive intelligence for founders: the public evidence to collect on competitors, how to keep it current, and how to turn it into pricing and positioning.
Start from what you know
Business Ideas
How to Find a Business Idea in Problems You Understand
How to find a business idea by starting from problems you already know: a five-step method to list, filter and test them, instead of brainstorming from nothing.
Interview, then pilot
Validation guides
How to Validate a Product Idea: Interviews and a Paid Pilot
How to validate a product idea as a domain expert: interview the buyers you already know, then run a paid pilot with a success metric agreed up front.
Eight things to prove
Comparisons
Startup Validator: What a Useful Idea Report Should Prove
What a startup validator report should prove before you trust it: eight things, from a real buyer and sourced market size to kill risks and the next test.
Who pays, what it costs
Founder guides
Creating a Business Model for an AI Startup: Who Pays
Creating a business model for an AI startup: who pays, what it costs to serve them, and whether revenue covers it, with the nine-block canvas and AI costs.
Problem, prototype, price
Validation guides
Product Validation: Problem, Prototype, Willingness to Pay
Product validation in three stages: confirm the problem, test a prototype, then test willingness to pay, with the evidence each stage needs before the next.
Twelve weeks to a real venture
Students and Universities
Entrepreneurship Curriculum: A 12-Week Idea-to-Venture Plan
An entrepreneurship curriculum built on execution: what courses like Lean LaunchPad and I-Corps get right, and a 12-week plan with a weekly deliverable.
The founder sells first
Go-to-market
Founder-Led Sales: A First-Customer Playbook for B2B AI
Founder-led sales for B2B AI startups: why the founder sells first, the six-step first-customer playbook, and when to hand selling to a hire.
Talk first, then build
Validation guides
Customer Discovery for Technical Founders: Evidence First
Customer discovery for technical founders: who to talk to, what to ask, how many conversations programs like NSF I-Corps expect, and how to log what you learn.