Validation Results

You only need to finish the part 4: Validation Process & Results in the document. In the document, it has detailed instructions you need to follow. And the direction of our business opportunity is about a start up Milk brand and the pasture. Thank you so much !

Validation Assignment

1. Introduce the Opportunity – write this lastIntroduce the reader to your business opportunity, with as much detail as possible in a page. Convince your reader that the idea is a real business opportunity: Write this after you complete all your validation work, and you have clarity on  who your target audience / customers are,  what their pain points are,  what your competitors are doing differently,  what your value proposition is what your business model is to deliver your value to the target audience (graphs can be useful here, but definitely describe it in words, too) what evidence you have that your target audience / customers / third party will pay so you can have a viable business model(If you aim for approximately one paragraph per item, that will make approximately one page.) 

2. Target Audience Description

Describe clearly your relevant target audiences, customers and/or groups who may be funding your enterprise. Provide as much detail about what they are trying to do what their ‘pain’ in currently trying to do this is and what gains they might be interested. Make sure that you back up every statement about your customers with evidence. Evidence can be testimonials from your validation efforts, comments on your web site or survey, or even market reports. 

3. Value Proposition

Describe clearly what customer pains you are addressing, how you will do so, and how your solution compares to competitors. Again, back this up with evidence. Note on competitors:“When I hear that someone has the next big business idea, I pull out my iPhone and within minutes can often find an existing product or service with a search on Google or YouTube. Before you even get wrapped up in an idea, save yourself the time and do a thorough search to find out if it already exists.” Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237455Make sure to search whether target audiences / customers have other ways of addressing the issues they are trying to solve, not just whether your particular solution exists already. Talk to your target audience / customers and/or related businesses or non-government organizations and ask them what they have tried. Why did that not work?“If you find it does [exist], do not give up on your inspiration too hastily. Perhaps there are ways to improve on the existing product? Can you offer value to the business already producing it? Could the market be satisfied better? If you answered "yes," move to the next step.”Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237455If you do not find it, find out why not. Would customers simply not buy it? Is there a product/service that fulfils the customers’ gains / pins in a different way? Are there supply issues? Is it too expensive to produce? Can you find any other fatal issues? If you do find any of these issues, do not give up on your inspiration too hastily, either. Can you find a solution that would not face the same issues? Can you develop a solution that specifically addresses the issues you found? If you can, move to the next step.If you answered “no” to the final questions in the above two paragraphs, go back and look for a different idea. (Keep your eyes open for related opportunities while you do the above search.)In your assignment: Document the solutions you found and how your idea adds value above and beyond the existing solution. If you don’t find anything similar, document your search (e.g. document search strategies, conversations with experts) and discuss why you think it does not exist yet. 

4. Validation Results Remember that in the first round of validation, you do not test your solution yet, you only test your assumption about your target audience / customers. 

4.1 Assumptions about CustomersUse the first round of the Experiment Board to test your assumptions about your target audience / customers and the problems they are trying to solve.Show precisely what steps you took to test your hypotheses, what your criteria were, how your results measured up to your criteria, and what your conclusion was. If your initial experiments did not confirm your assumptions, document insights and formulate your next hypothesis. Remember to not move onto the next section until you are sure you have found a concern your target audience / customers care about.Show this evidence for each key target audience / customer segment, especially if you have a two-sided business model (e.g. like Airbnb – if you need both hosts and guests, it won’t work if only one group likes your idea). Mare sure to be very detailed in describing your “get out of the building” step: How did you identify potential customers? What did you ask them? How did you obtain their feedback (remember NOT to use video or audio recording)? What analyses did you conduct? Did you meet your success criterion? 

4.2 Refinement and SolutionsContinue the experiment board based on your insights from the previous rounds. Make sure to use a variety of methodologies, as appropriate for your specific enterprise. This stage is complete when you find a target audience that indicates that they are willing to use or buy your product when you produce it, and you find a target audience that will make your business viable (if your target audience does not pay for your product / service), and you can document this “traction”, e.g. potential customers clicking on a link or contacting you. If you cannot get to the point of completing this stage within the time given, contact the professor. Ideally, you also start validating whether suppliers can provide the products at the prices you expect, whether you can get the licences and permit you need to operate, and other key element that are necessary for your enterprise to be viable.
Further resources: - http://www.javelin.com/experiment-board.html- Another example using the experiment board (including  a story of a failure): http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/04/10/a-guide-to-validating-product-ideas-with-quick-and-simple-experiments/- Formulating and testing business idea hypotheses: http://hatchery.io/how-to-validate-your-business-idea-by-testing-a-hypothesis.html- Some examples for testing assumptions. Note that, despite the title, many of these examples at NOT minimum viable products as defined in this class (i.e. the ones that do not actually add value to the customer and/or revenues to the start-up). Therefore, I provide this link as examples on methods you can use on an experiment board: http://thenextweb.com/dd/2014/11/12/15-ways-test-minimum-viable-product/- Finding customers: http://www.shoestring101.com/how-to-validate-your-business-idea-on-craiglist/
Important Note:The most important aspect of this this section is for you to show actual experiments and actual results. Make sure to include substantial information (data, survey results, summary of web searches) on the work you present. For example, include questionnaires you used, lists of potential competitors you reviewed, names and positions of company representatives you interviewed.  

4.3 Propose a Business ModelConclude this section with the business model that makes the most sense based on the information you received. Use the format provided by the business model kit to sketch your business model. Describe its key features using appropriate terminology, and briefly discuss how it relates to the insights you gained during the customer validation part. It is understood that this will likely change during the remainder of the course, as you obtain additional information and continue your validation of suppliers, partners, or changing target audiences. 
5. Comments on your process, insights, pivots, and next stepsIn this section, reflect on your validation process. Comment on the process, what worked well, what did not and what you might do differently next time. Remember that ‘being wrong’ with your assumptions is one of the best things that can happen in this process, as you gain new insights into your target audience. To conclude, discuss what validation steps you would take next, if you had a budget of $50 for your validation efforts.