Market Research Series: The Pat Flynn Way (Part 2: Development Lab)
Based on Pat Flynn Book, Will It Fly? How to Test Your Next Business Idea So you Don’t Waste Your Time and Money
Part 2: Development Lab
Goal: To take your business ideas into more visual to help you understand exactly what it is
A. Germination
What it is? An exercise use brain dump anything that comes out of your mind about your business idea
Why is it important? Seeing your idea on hand will help you with the thinking process rather than keeping it your brain
How does it work? Though there’s a lot of ways to this, Pat Flynn recommended the used of Mind Mapping, either offline or online.
A mind map is simply a visual representation of our thoughts, and it’s an extremely clever and useful way to organize those thoughts and discover important patterns and relationships.
Items can be grouped together, hierarchies can emerge, and it’s not unusual to finish this exercise with a total understanding of all that noise in your head.
Method 1: Post It Notes (Offline with pen and post it paper)
Method 2: Mind Mapping Software (Mindmeister)
The rule of the game is “Don’t Think” while mind mapping. Whatever comes on your mind, write it down.
Mind Mapping Phase 1: Brain Dump
What you’ll need:
- Your mind mapping method (Post-It notes or software) ready.
- A space where you’ll be uninterrupted for 10 minutes.
- A countdown timer (like the one on your mobile phone) set for 10 minutes
- Any other thing that helps you think best (e.g. coffee, music, your favorite chair)
- And finally, an open mind that won’t think about order, structure, or editing.
Mind Mapping Phase 2: The Clean Up
After 10 minutes, organize your ideas with the common category or similar topics.
Mind Mapping Phase 3: Pruning Your Tree
Take a few minutes to discard those notes that don’t really matter.
B. One Sentence
What it is? In this exercise, you will need to combine and organize your idea into one sentence
Why is it important? When you get to the core, you find what really matters.
How does it work?
Step 1: Write One Page
Write a one page summary of your idea, usually about 400 to 500 words.
Step 2: Write One Paragraph
From one page summary, rewrite your idea in one paragraph, usually around 3 to 5 sentences.
Step 3: Write One Sentence.
Finally, summarize your paragraph into one sentence. The idea here is to have a one sentence idea that people will understand and provide comment.
C. Conversation and Observation
What it is? After you created your one sentence business idea, it’s time to share and request feedback from your target audience
Why is it important? This is to dig deeper on the value of your idea until it becomes refined and mature.
How does it work? All you have to do is go out of your room and request feedback about your business idea.
Pat Flynn’s Tips on How To Share Your Idea
- Don’t give any opinions leading up to the conversion.
- Don’t sell yourself (or your idea) short.
- Help. Then ask.
Pat Flynn’S Tips on How to Listen:
- Consciously listen to the person’s response.
- Don’t take notes or record the conversation.
- Dig deeper by asking quick follow-up questions.
- Don’t just listen to the words.
- Let the person speak.
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You may also check for:
Market Research Series: The Pat Flynn Way (Part 1: Mission Design)
Market Research Series: The Pat Flynn Way (Part 2: Development Lab)
Market Research Series: The Pat Flynn Way (Part 3: Flight Planning)
Market Research Series: The Pat Flynn Way (Part 4: Flight Simulator)
