Building a Business That Works in 2 Weeks

During Step 6, you will validate all of the ideas you have generated so far laying the foundations for data collection and harvesting by planning out surveys and focus groups as well as the necessary resources associated with quantitative and qualitative data gathering.

You will also have the opportunity to consider your business model and the places you can stress-test it, with a particular focus on using a compatibility matrix to ensure your ideas are in-touch with current trends and attitudes.

This section of the Planner is a space for you to consider what category your product falls into, as well as the components that go into the creation of your product and where you will source them from. Examples of what to consider include categories such as convenience products, speciality products, emergency products and shopping products.

Every product has a story and this is the space to begin tailoring it in order to entice and persuade customers to make a purchase. Consider the art of copywriting and how flavourful text can enhance the buyer experience while being clear and concise in what issues your product is solving for the customers. Get creative!

Stress-testing your business model requires you to consider the platforms in which to do so, such as industry events, surveys, forums and blog posts. Using this page, you are able to consider the various methods in which to test your business model with the general public who are ultimately the deciding factor in whether they will turn into a customer or another person of value to your business.

Surveys allow you to gather important data on opinions and societal trends, and this page will let you plan out where your surveys will be delivered to, who will be surveyed and what questions you will be asking in order to paint a picture on the perception of your product and business.

A focus group is a small collection of individuals from a diverse background, and most importantly, completely random members of the public. Using this page, you will be able to consider which stakeholder groups your focus groups will hone in on as well as its composition and the questions that will be asked during the session.

This page is designed to have you consider the resources that go into crafting an effective focus group, such as who will be involved, the location, venue, travel cost, incentives and time frame for the session. You may wish to consider how to incentivise people to attend the focus group and make it worth their time and how to encourage their participation.

No focus group is the same and they take on many forms depending on the context of your business, product and the questions you require the answers to. Extra things to consider for an effective focus group depends largely on your imagination and the scope of your research, but this page will give the opportunity to note down anything else you can think of that might be important for hosting your first session.

Validating your products and services is done through the collection and analysis of hard data gathered from the various research methods at your disposal in the digital world. This section of the Planner gives you time to think about the feedback you have received for prototypes/mock-ups and from focus groups, allowing you to make the necessary changes to your product or service.

The Compatibility Matrix is a tool to determine the compatibility of two or more entities to find the most logical and realistic outcome. In the context of running a business, the Compatibility Matrix allows you to analyse how well your product/service fits into the current market while considering the financial requirements of distribution and supply.

Following the research methods covered previously in the Planner, this page allows you to build a business case outlining all of the validated facts you have gathered so far in order to bring more clarity to your venture. This is also an excellent opportunity to review the reasons for starting your business and the solution is selling to your prospective customers.