Validate my idea

Validating your business idea: why you need to go into the field first

Before rushing headlong into a detailed market study, take a detour: go into the field to understand and refine the problem you want to solve. At this stage, it is not yet about testing your solution, but about confirming that the need really exists.

Problem first, solution second

This is the classic founder's mistake: falling in love with your solution before checking the problem. Yet the problem or problems you want to solve with your business project go beyond those you may face personally: they are those of particular users or specific companies.

Rather than imagining the problems in detail on your own, go into the field to complete and validate the picture you have formed. This is the approach Fri Up encourages for all Fribourg project holders.

Observe, interact, immerse yourself

In practical terms, the field approach involves observing users and their behaviour in real situations, interacting with them and immersing yourself in their environment to understand:

  • what motivates them and what holds them back,
  • their day-to-day difficulties and obstacles,
  • their fears,
  • what they find easy,
  • the things that can help them.

Back from the field, summarise the facts, needs and lessons gathered during your immersion. Then refine, or even change, your angle of approach for what comes next. Understanding the challenge to tackle and the insights you can use in your design work is fundamental to creating an effective solution.

The three objectives of this phase

  1. Confirm and refine the problem you think you can solve.
  2. Identify the right customers to target and develop a deep understanding of your potential future customers and users.
  3. Define your angle of approach — your vision — based on what you discovered in the field.

Tools to structure your approach

To help you, Fri Up provides a practical document bringing together several proven tools: the approach for observing users/customers, the empathy map and the gain/pain circle. These templates guide you in collecting and analysing your field observations.