Sorry for the delayed absence guys (yes, I'm still alive). I've been working like a maniac on my latest startup (which is going to be released soon), but I'll be posting regularly again from now on.

With startups there's an endemic barrier to entry that can deter just about anyone, and it's important to fight it off. The most depressing (and yet natural) of them all is as follows:

Your idea seems perfect, but you eventually realize that nobody wants to buy it

Before you throw the idea/work in the trash compactor, try to refine it first. I could throw out a lot of different examples to illustrate how, but the easiest one is Play-Doh. If you're a cinefile, you'll note that this story was recently told in the movie 'How do you know' (which was a waste of time by the way).

The short version of Play-Doh: It was created as a wallpaper cleaner. It wasn't doing so hot. They realized that people were using it as pliable clay instead. So they marketed it as such, and it all worked out.

Interestingly, this cyclical repositioning/refining technique appears in almost every successful business to some degree.

There's an important book that most entrepreneurs I've met have all read called Founders At Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days (You can get it by clicking here). The book details how so many businesses have had to shift their focus, and this is what ultimately made them successful.

One of the many examples in the book is PayPal. PayPal basically started as a method of transferring money between two wireless devices. This was their 'idea'. While the idea was cute, it wasn't especially profitable. Thus, the idea was refined, and it ended up taking the form of third party company that assists with transfers online. It's now a titan of the online world.

There are countless other examples in the book of companies that have followed the same cyclical repositioning path. The book is basically a collection of case studies from successful businesses.

This technique of:

1. Release the product
2. Collect feedback
3. Refine (make changes)
4. Repeat

is at the heart of being an entrepreneur. This is the framework you must follow. You need to fail in order to succeed. Here's a variation of the cycle, which is employed by the vast majority of entrepreneurs who fail:

1. Release the product
2. Ignore feedback
3. Wait out the storm (do nothing)
4. Try to advertise more
5. Go down with the ship

The goal of your startup should be continuous refinement/improvement of the product. This technique has become so important, that there's actually a second book that is dedicated entirely to this concept. It's called Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a better business model (Get it by clicking here). The book is written by John Mullins, and Randy Komisar (who most know from Stanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought Leader podcasts). The book basically ascertains that your business is almost definitely going to fail in its early stages, and that's fine. In fact, that's natural. Only once you've failed can you start to refine the product and reposition it accordingly.

If you follow this type of framework, you'll find yourself much less stressed by early signs of failure in your business. If you go in with the mindset that you're going to need to adjust on the fly, you won't panic when the initial reaction to your business sucks. You'll automatically only worry when you need to; in this case, you only need to worry if you can't reposition the product for success. Only at this point should you be looking to dispose of the idea like it was last week's leftovers.

So don't be afraid of failing. In fact, embrace the need; The Need to Fail.

Just make sure you build off it and come back with a better product.

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So you've come up with a great idea that could realistically become a successful business. You're also smart enough to realize that you need to ask your future customers what they think of it; so how do you do that exactly?

We'll cover 3 rapid methods of collecting customer feedback for your product (only 2 are worth consideration.. can you guess which?):

• 1. Go straight to selling it, and see what happens
• 2. Start by giving it away for free, then charge at a later date
• 3. Carry out "focus groups" or surveys

Believe it or not, but the third method (focus groups and surveys) is not as practical as you might expect. The reason focus groups and surveys lag behind the other two options is because people in focus groups are going to answer your questions differently than your consumers will.

Tim Ferriss (of 4 hour workweek fame) illustrates it best: Suppose you hold a fancy focus group for 20 people. Most entrepreneurs will actually invite family members to this event (what a disaster), but the audience doesn't matter. After pitching your product to these 20 people, the vast majority will tell you that it's a great idea, and they'd definitely buy your product. This seems great, doesn't it? Mission accomplished? Well not exactly. Because, as Tim says, if you were to follow their answers by saying "Great, I've got a whole supply in the car. I can take your money right now", all of a sudden, nobody will pay you for it. This happens over and over again, and it is a reason that startup businesses should avoid focus groups or surveys in the early stages. On a very large mass scale, they can be important, but for the vast majority of startups, there are much better methods available.

The first method mentioned above (go straight to selling it) is actually superior to the second method when it comes to providing customer feedback. And as a bonus, it allows you to earn some money in the short term. As an entrepreneur, cash flow means everything, so this is the method you should be using. There is nothing wrong with giving the product away free, then proceeding to charge at a later date (option 2); but you lose a vital piece of information with this approach. If you give it away for free, you won't really know whether your product is valuable enough to purchase in the eyes of your customer. On top of that, if it was valuable enough to charge for, you've flushed potential profits down the toilet. So let's focus on the first method.

Note, that the goal of the first method is not to sell a piece of unfinished junk to your consumers. The goal is to create a functional version of your product, that offers reliable core functionality. You can save the bells and whistles for a later date. At first, focus on building a product that is good enough to sell. It needs to provide benefit to the customer, but it doesn't have to be complicated.

Now that you have your product, how can you elicit customer feedback by selling it early on? Simple. Your customers are going to give you the best feedback of all: Either your customers will pay for it, or they won't. Period. This is feedback that you won't get from a focus group, or by releasing your product for free. If nobody is purchasing your product, there are 3 questions you need to ask:

• Is it too expensive?
• Does it not provide enough functionality (this should never be the case, because you should have included the core functionality of your product already)?
• Does the market simply not care for this product?

These are the most fundamental questions you need to answer. If tinkering with the price of your product produces more sales, then that's fantastic. If a tiny feature is added, and it ends up producing sales, that's great. But if you have provided the core benefit of your product, and nobody is willing to pay for it? It might be time to find another idea. You want to reach this stage early, before putting enormous amounts of time and money into your product. If you're going to fail, fail fast, and fail inexpensively.

If you are fortunate enough to be making sales, then you will be on the road to even more feedback. Your users will actually tell you exactly what they'd like your product to do for them! They will request extra features, and complain about elements of your product that they don't like. You can utilize all of this feedback to refine your product, and come out with something that they love. This is the optimal path, and it can be reached relatively quickly. Your goal for feedback should be to use it to gauge your market, and refine your product accordingly. Focus on working off of feedback, rather than simply using it to validate your idea/product.

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