Since we’ve been involved with a successful startup before (Workbrain), people often call us for advice and insight on starting a new company. One of the most common questions we hear is: “I want to be an entrepreneur. How do I know I’ve come up with a great idea?” Here's a lesson from the trenches on how to find out.

1. Disconfirming Evidence CONFIDENTIAL

2. The people want to know “I want to be an entrepreneur. How do I know I’ve come up with a great idea?” 2 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

3. Short answer is… You don’t. 3 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

4. From the “Not Yet” dept. Don’t write a business plan. Your idea will shift a lot during the customer discovery process to find product/market fit. 4 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

5. Business plans… …are exercises in convincing other people that you have a great idea. 5 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

6. Better use of your time Look for disconfirming evidence that the choice to start this business is a good one 6 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

7. Prove you might be right… …by proving that you’re probably not wrong. There are no guarantees, but you’ll save a lot of time and resource and get to customer development much sooner. 7 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

8. The Process How to disprove your brilliant business idea in five easy steps 8 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

9. 1• Create a general filter What’s your passion? What kind of business do you want? We knew we wanted SaaS, low professional services, consumer-ized, freemium, focused on a large demographic shift 9 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

10. 2• Do general research Spend a few days talking to real people who know about your problem We’ll revisit this idea in an upcoming lesson. 10 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

11. 3• Agree on required truths What must be true for your idea to be awesome? This is the important part. Don’t list more than 5. 11 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

12. Personal jet packs! 12 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches Things that must be true to attain awesome: People will want them (duh!) You can get regulatory approval You have access to technical know-how to design/build them You can manufacture them at a price point a large market will bear Illustration by Jonathan Wolfe. Licensed under Creative Commons.

13. 4• Arrange from easiest to hardest 13 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches Technical know-how Regulatory approval Demand Price point Cake by Patent and the Pantry. Monster by Don Solo. Licensed under Creative Commons.

14. 5• Disprove truths in order 14 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches Technical know-how? Regulatory approval? Demand? Price point?

15. 5• Disprove truths in order 15 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches Technical know-how? Regulatory approval? Demand? Price point? Damn! I don’t know how to build a jetpack.

16. 5• Disprove truths in order 16 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches Technical know-how? Regulatory approval? Demand? Price point? IDEA FAIL Damn! I don’t know how to build a jetpack.

17. But wait! Idea fail is not real fail. You still learned stuff (hopefully by talking to people!) Tweak and iterate on your idea or move on. 17 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches Customer Development diagram from Steve Blank.

18. Most importantly! Don’t give up. If it’s not this one, it might be the next one. Stick to the process and you’ll find one that doesn’t fail. 18 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches

19. Suggested reading material 19 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches See http://bit.ly/roger-martin for links

20. Lessons from the trenches Check out our blog for more lessons: http://bit.ly/rypple-lessons 20 Rypple Lessons from the Trenches