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MenuIs this idea validation or harmful, good practice or a off on the wrong foot?
Wanted to validate my photography niche idea so I called a bunch of photographers off google and asked them if the offer this kind of service...most said they had never done it before but could easily incorporate it into their workflow and talked prices and procedures.....perfect! I now validated the idea (still need to validate customer side) Was that sketchy... should I tell them that it was an idea and perhaps they would like to partner or will they be displeased to hear their potential customer is another photographer...I thought it seemed fair because they just gained knowledge of a potential new rev stream for themselves.
Answers
Could it be called Sketchy? Yes. Does everyone do it in every industry to get insider info on competitor pricing and presentation.... Pretty much.
With that said if any do present as people you would like to work with, then for sure let them know what you were doing, that they made the cut, and that you would be honored to work with them.
What exactly is your question? No you are not a terrible person.
I would love to share a quote that this reminded me of, "If Someone Offers You An Opportunity And You Are Not Sure You Can Do It, Say Yes - Then Learn How To Do It Late" - Richard Branson and my latest tweet :) https://twitter.com/AverageJoeVC.
You are doing everything right! You are not sketchy at all and the truth of the matter is, they likely receive a lot of these types of inquiries. What you are potentially doing for them is presenting them with additional business for their endeavors, almost like providing them with additional deal flow. If you can firm up exactly what your offering is, how it would be fulfilled, the costs associated with fulfilling it, and ultimately come up with a price for that offering, you can then go work on the customer side of the equation to match the customer with the provider who would fulfill the solution and essentially broker the deal. Looks like you may be building a Marketplace of some sort and I encourage you to keep on moving :). Good luck.
Related Questions
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How do you get access to the right people to validate an idea?
The art of the "cold pitch" is definitely something that needs to be worked on, and doesn't come naturally to everyone. A couple of quick tips: 1. 4 is not a big enough target group, you've got to cast a bigger net. Try pitching 20, and aim to get 3-5 responses. 2. When sending a cold email, really think about what you are offering them. Whilst you'll get the odd good egg that simply wants to help - you can't expect entrepreneurs and small biz owners to take time out of their day to answer your questions. To counter, why not tell them you're conducting research in the space, and would be happy to send the finds/reports back to them in a nice format, which could in turn help their business. 3. Don't give up, keep hustling. Try changing around the emails slightly, track which emails convert into responses, and fine tune from there. Good luck and feel free to book a call if you want to chat more. Best James.James PemberJP
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Is it better to have focus on one service offering or have many service offerings to gain more market share, faster?
I think there are great lessons to be learned from Exec. They started out wide, but have gone very deep on cleaning. It depends on the core thesis of your vision. Do you have a different product experience that could be competitive to existing marketplaces? Or are you just going for land-grab? The most important thing to understand about the services marketplace business is that it's a very localized business operation. I believe that if you're just looking to make money, the best way to do this is to go to "secondary markets" and build up marketplaces with a plan to sell to someone who has already raised great VC and has a presence in the major markets. If you are looking to compete in major market cities, then the safer bet is to find the very deep opportunity unless you really believe your customer experience can beat the established players. Happy to talk this through with you in more detail.Tom WilliamsTW
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What are the best ways to define and validate a new business concept?
Face to Face will always be better. The reason is because to get to the root of an issue or to what really drives a person, you need to ask WHY 5 times. Only then you can offer a solution that will be irresistible to your prospects. Let's try with an email survey. 1. What is your biggest struggle when you want to expand abroad? __________ 2. Why? __________ 3. Why? __________ 4. Why? __________ 5. Why? __________ You look like a freak, right? Now in a normal conversation, it would go something like: Oh, your biggest challenge is costs? Tell me more about it. Yes, i just don't have enough cash flow to open an office abroad. Where is your cash flow going instead? (that's a hidden why) It's going into our local activities. Why do you prefer spending money locally? Because we get more return on investment. etc etc.. I'm happy to jump on the phone to test this technique (it feels a bit awkward at the beginning but with some training it becomes natural). SerenaSerena De Maio, Your Tell You Like It Is Marketing ExpertSD
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Fact or Fiction? You NEED side a job when creating a business because there is no way to make money for 6-12 months
A startup is in essence the "art" of juggling. Of course you need some sort of "income" to pay for rent, food while your startup or business begins to generate cash flow. Ideally you should have at least 6 months of saving, sufficient time to give you a clear outlook of what will happen with your business. But some businesses start generating cash liquidity at faster pace. What is definetely certain is that you will need "leverage" in order to get your business started: savings, past clients, loans, investor capital, or even grants. Happy to jump on call and explore more :)Hernan JaramilloHJ
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Are there any techniques when selling door to door, specifically a B2B model?
Im sure you'll will find many diff approaches but overall your main goal, once you contact, is to always be accessible, friendly and build relationships. Even if your relationships are thin, they are better quality leads for business than you simply walking into a business pitching your product. When pitching your product: Always focus in value, talk to your soon to be clients as if you deal with the issues first hand and this is how you solve them... Don't discuss pricing unless asked. Offer any help or guidance in selecting services even from the competition if they want.. Sell yourself as a rep from a company that is paid to help not sell... This approach works wonders if you can pull it off.. If you have less time during intros or pitching local retail shops you have to be more direct but still aim for a relationship than a quick sale before you move on next door. Learn a bit about their business like busiest hours, popular item or service...after your intro simply offer them more time when they are less busy with clientele to come back to talk about fuckng a certain issue (with a product you represent) :) Hope it helps a bit.Humberto Valle Texas Real Estate Investor, Wholesaler, & Airbnb SuperhostHV
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