Testing Your New Business Hypothesis

Description
You know that a new idea has gained dominance when it becomes practically a cliché. That is what I’ve seen happen with the “Lean Startup” philosophy of viewing your startup as a scientific experiment in search of a business model. This started as a new idea, then became popularized, and now people view it as common sense and practically a cliché. And I definitely am one of those people who regularly advises our portfolio companies at ffVC to think creatively about how to experiment on their operating assumptions.

The challenge is: what experiments can you run to test your hypotheses? I’ve looked all over, but to my surprise, I have not been able to find a good collection of appropriate experiments online. So, I’ve gathered below some of the experiments that our portfolio companies and other startups we know have found most informative.

If you have further ideas, please add them in your reviews.
- David Teten

PS: To structure your experiments, I suggest use the Javelin Experiment Board.