Why, Why, Why?

In what way does your business idea create a better everyday life for the many people on this Earth? Challenge yourself and your team by always asking why, why, why – until you have found the core and the true drive in your company. Values-driven companies can often explain why they exist. If you can explain your company’s values – why customers should buy from your company and not from competitors – then you have come a long way! And remember: it’s not about the price tag of your service or product, but the value it adds.

By always starting with “why” when communicating, you can create a deeper emotional connection between the customer and your brand.

The Golden Circle Helps Us Find the Core

According to entrepreneur and TED talk personality Simon Sinek, the key lies in what we communicate. To illustrate his idea, he has invented a simple model called “The Golden Circle.” At the core of this circle, we have “why,” surrounding it is “how,” and outermost is “what.”

Most companies communicate from the outside in. They start with “what” – the product they sell, then they explain how excellent the product is and why you should buy it. But a few companies have flipped it and start all their communication with “why”:

Your “Why” Should:

• Be simple and clear without complicated jargon or technical terms. Keep it concise and straight to the point.
• Be actionable and convertible into concrete actions and decisions. Your “why” should provide a glimpse into what you will actually do.
• Focus on how your business idea and ambitions positively impact others and the world at large.
• Reflect you. Ideally, your “why” should be summarized in a single sentence, with a tone and feeling that mirrors your brand.

This is how it might sound when we want to test our idea in an early stage. As an entrepreneur, you know you should talk to your potential customers as early as possible – to check that you’re actually building something they will want to buy. This is important when the idea is really good – to confirm the upcoming success – but especially when it turns out that the idea doesn’t quite hold up. In that case, it’s better to find out as early as possible so that you have a better chance to adjust for success. But it’s not easy to figure out what potential customers really think. Why is that?

People Prefer to Be Kind than Honest

The first common reason is that most people try to be kind to you and therefore are not completely honest about what they think. They do this because they see that you’re putting effort, time, and money into something and simply don’t want to risk hurting you by giving feedback that might be uncomfortable.

Everyone Likes Positive Feedback

The second common reason is that we ourselves feel good hearing positive feedback. Nothing strange about that. It’s natural that we want to hear that we are on the right track. Unfortunately, this has the consequence that we might fall into seeking compliments instead of finding valuable information where there is a risk that something uncomfortable might come up. The leading questions in the introduction are examples of this. But compliments and cheerful encouragement rarely improve our idea.

How to Ask Open-Ended Questions

So how do you get people to say what they really think? It naturally varies depending on what idea you want to test and how far you’ve come, but in the example below, you get some tips that can help you along the way. In the example, we assume an idea for a digital service that we believe will replace a troublesome moment/problem for the customers. First, you need to confirm that there is a need among the customers.

We Assist You In Testing Your Idea

So, what’s the ultimate way to check if someone is telling the truth when they say your idea is good? Ask them to sign up for the service or pre-order the product. Then, they will undoubtedly reveal what they really think – because everyone stops lying when you ask them for money.

If you want help figuring out what’s crucial for your idea to move forward, book a meeting with a business developer at Science Park, and we’ll assist you!

If your idea is perfect when you first launch it, you’ve probably spent too much time on it. In this guide, Linda, our Head of Community and Knowledge, will explain why.

Just Go For It!

Yes, it’s really that simple. There are no secret formulas to determine how good your idea is. There are also no experts holding the magical answer. It’s the market and your potential customers who decide, and you simply have to test your way through.

By testing your idea early on, you get feedback and avoid getting stuck in the idea phase. You also don’t have to consider what could have happened if you had just dared.

It’s not uncommon to worry about potential idea theft. But you know what? If you don’t test, you won’t move forward, and then the idea will either fade away—or someone else will likely come up with the same thing eventually.

Your MVP Should:

• Have enough value initially for users to want to use or buy it.
• Demonstrate future benefits to keep early users engaged.
• Create a feedback loop to guide the team in the ongoing development.

Minimum Lovable Product

To satisfy today’s customer, it can be beneficial to use MLP instead of MVP, which stands for Minimum Lovable Product. To create an MLP, you should think in a similar way to creating an MVP, but with more thought and care. The goal of an MLP is to solve the problem while also bringing joy.

Customers Don’t Just Want to Use Your Product; They Want to Love It.

So, how do you create an MLP? In addition to what we’ve discussed earlier about building an MVP, you can add another mindset and model that we’ll talk about in another one of our short talks—namely, The Golden Circle and how you develop the ‘why’ of your company or product.

Using a Business Model Canvas not only helps you pinpoint areas for knowledge improvement but also underscores what is essential to focus on in the near future. The model enables visualizing and creatively exploring your business model.

How Does Your Business Model Respond to Changes?

Creating diverse versions of a Business Model Canvas (BMC) effortlessly enables you to demonstrate the impact of a proposed business model on different aspects of business development. Varied customer segments or revenue models may affect your costs or partnerships in distinct ways. Instead of navigating through numerous business plans or adjusting endless documents, maintain flexibility and openness to input from the external environment, customers, partners, trends, and more.

When working collaboratively, the BMC model proves to be an excellent tool for fostering a shared understanding of the work. It also provides support in mapping out various crucial areas.

Are You Interested In Exploring the BMC Model?

In our business development activities at Science Park, the BMC model stands out as one of our go-to tools. If you’d like to apply the model to your idea or business with our guidance, feel free to schedule a meeting – we’ll be in touch soon.