Break Out of The Box

Creative people sometimes have the fear “What if it isn’t good enough? What if I’ll be laughed at?” How do these fears play on your mind when seeking product validation?

Some people rationalize hiding their creativity from the world with the claim, “maybe someone will steal my idea! it’s not ready yet!” as an excuse to stay in their “mental safe zone” and avoid going public with their new creation and sharing the invention or innovation to benefit society. When a bank partner I was working with asked me “Moshe, so to how many potential users have you shown the product, and what was their response?”

In fact,

2 weeks before that phone conversation I was sitting with one of my old mentors that I hadn’t spoken to since the closing of the sale of my previous company, when I updated him on my new venture SHTAR, we discussed how we are bridging the gap and friction between accounting software and payment solutions for small and midsize companies, and how we’re solving the undying Paper Checks and its security vulnerabilities. He asked me about my business model, target market, and the market size, etc. we discussed financial models and how I could best go about it.

I, of course, offered to demonstrate the product to him, as I have probably done over 40 times, to bankers, advisers, mentors, and other industry professionals. His response shocked me and opened my eyes to something that I somehow missed up to that point.

“I may be in doubt, and I may be afraid, but I stay the course”

To understand my reaction, a bit of SHTAR’s back story might be necessary:

When we started SHTAR we debated on who our target customer is, we can sell it to SMBs as users or we can partner with banks, after long debates going back and forth weighing the pros and cons of each approach I decided that the best course of action would be to partner with banks.

With that decision, we approached our entire development process with the perspective that although the end-users are going to be SMB bookkeepers, our customers are our partner banks.

When he told me “I’m not a bookkeeper and will probably never use this product on my own”, he introduced me to his own bookkeeper and controller and asked them to check out my new product, 25 minutes later they were both excited for what they saw, and I was way smarter, gaining some insights and concerns that were easily addressed.

That experience taught me a strong lesson, although I have been working really hard these past few months to make sure I don’t leave any stone unturned, trying to make sure I am aware of all possible issues and address as much as possible before Launch, I even discussed the product to a handful of potential users, and got generally positive response, however, I have not taken the courage to actually demonstrate the unfinished product and allow potential user to actually play with it.

After my mentors cold response, that he is “never going to use it on his own” I realized that in reality, nothing beats actual feedback from potential users. I decided that if I want real feedback and maximum results I not only have to demo the product to at least 20 bookkeepers, I also need to allow them to play with it documenting their responses, questions, and concerns, to be able to watch and learn, interestingly enough after reviewing the behavior, response, questions, and suggestions from the initial 20 potential users, I realized how invaluable the information and the data is, I decided to have a real deep understanding to the end user’s needs, I need to reach out to at least 100 users.

“…every single demo offered some unique and valuable insight that was unknown before”

I can tell you now, that after surveying over 100 potential companies, the most insightful data for the product I’ve ever gotten was from the questions, as it showed me where people have a hard time getting it, and where we can make minor tweaks that will improve the product to bring a better user experience, at the same time the results from the feedback and suggestions kept on surprising me, almost every single demo offered some unique and valuable insight that was unknown to me before.

We ended up tweaking and adding multiple new features & functionality to our initial release and it gave us direction for our development pipeline that will probably make SHTAR an irresistible need for every SMB accounting department, and improve the lives of its users.

So when the Bank executive asked me what was the response from potential end-users, I felt a sense of achievement, on how I have talked myself into doing product validation demos, while facing my own emotions of fear and insecurity, I’ll admit, I was in doubt, and afraid, but I stayed the course, I told him proudly that over 100 potential companies who played with the product are ready to sign up for a paid pilot and start using it as soon as we release, and how 12 companies are even willing to switch banks to be part of the first release.

“…nothing beats actual feedback from potential users”

In conclusion:

1. It isn’t wrong to put in the necessary precautions to protect yourself from something you’re afraid of, however, it should never hold you back from doing what needs to be done.
2. Never underestimate the power of asking for product validation, feedback and document it, as early and as often and from as many potential users you.