1-1-20 value creation: Shadow testing

Easy one, we have discussed the meaning before.

-         The best way, yet impractical, to test and validate your idea is to sell it to real customers

-         That would be very demanding in money and efforts and risky

-         So, a better, smarter way to do that is to sell your product "value form" before it exists

That is "Shadow Testing"

It means: presenting your offer to real paying customers before it exists

-         How to do that: PREORDERING: you have a prototype and you have good feedbacks. You then need only to validate it by placing the option to preorder it

-         You DO NOT charge for this prototype until it is finished

-         So, you can see the actual amount of demand on your business and decide whether to go on and put your money and effort into this or not

-         You better give many choices (remember bundling and unbundling) to experiment which offer is the best one to make it the main offer

-         That also gives you the final decisive answer to the question: "Does a market really exist?"

-         If something bad happen and you had to close the business or readjust it, you won't lose anything for that you haven't spent the major money and efforts on the business. Just close it, restructure it, relaunch it in a more appealing form to the customers

-         For this to work, I have to repeat that: you CANNOT be sneaky about your project, be upfront and show it and presell it to real customers