3 top tools to help prioritise your time and give you more headspace when starting a business.
The first thing to remember is that the best way to reduce your time money and resources is to focus on validation.
Validation can be seen as three parts of a Venn diagram; where all three parts overlap is the “sweet spot” that indicates the best chance of a successful business. The three parts of the Venn diagram are Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility.
Desirability means that your potential customers and users want what you are creating. The process of validating desirability includes understanding who your customers are and taking into consideration alternative solutions, and willingness to pay.
Viability means that your venture has a sound financial model. The process of validating viability means understanding all the costs associated with the business model, and how it can eventually generate income to support it long-term.
Feasibility means that you can make and do what you intend to. The process of validating feasibility may involve relevant consent, the ability to find a space and more.
The next step is to start thinking about how to plan your activities, so you can focus on validation. We know that you are likely to have ideas of the solution at this stage, and it can be hard to separate out your ideas and features for the future vs. how to validate and test the idea overall.
Introducing Three Horizons.
Three Horizons is a simple tool, but when used well it can be great for capturing future ideas to explore and focus on what you need to. Each horizon may be different depending on what stage you are at, and there can be as many horizons as you want or as is useful to help structure how you develop your business.
The first horizon can include things like validating the idea. Some tools that you might use in this section may include calculating a break-even point (viability), customer interviewing and test cards (desirability) and understanding the legal requirements and skills needed to make your idea come to life (feasibility).
The second horizon may be creating a prototype to test or even creating a minimum viable product to test with potential customers.
The third horizon can be a place to put or jot down any future ideas to work on once the business has launched. This allows you to capture all the ideas along the way so that you can revisit them when the timing is right.
Workflow management
There are so many tools out there to help organise your tasks and keep track of where things are at; whether it’s Monday, Trello, Notion or anything else. Its worth doing your research and considering what features are most important for you. Here is a link to a comparison of software. this is not a be-all, end-all list; it can, however, be a good place to check out a few lesser known ones.
At Startup Dunedin, we are big fans of our project management software. It allows individuals and small teams to create workboards that can help organise tasks into whatever size you want. Whether you like lists and checkboxes, or one overarching goal, you can set up a card and even assign others to do that job or task.
Want to chat more about your idea and how you can plan your startup? Meet with us - it’s always free! Click here to learn more.