Get Potential Customers to “No” as Quickly as Possible

Earlier today I was talking to an entrepreneur in the finding product/market fit stage of the startup adventure. He’s making progress collecting information but is still trying to understand if there’s a viable market. After hearing an update and sharing a few ideas, I recommended that he get to “no” with a bunch of potential customers as quickly as possible. The idea is that it’s often easier and faster to figure out if an idea isn’t viable, such that you can then move on. Too often, entrepreneurs take too long to kill an idea.

Here are a few labor-intensive ideas to get in front of a number of people to determine viability for an idea:

• Make a methodical plan to reach a certain type of person (e.g. take the last 100 people featured in the local business journal and contact them via phone)
• Find a list of award winners (e.g. the Inc. 5000) and contact at least 500 companies on the list
• Reach out to 100+ people that you know and ask for a referral to someone that could be a potential customer or could point you in the right direction

Now, if this sounds like sales, it’s because it is sales. Most startup founders like building a product and don’t like selling. Whether it’s sales or customer discovery, the best thing to do is to get in front of as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.

What else? What are your thoughts on getting potential customers to “no” as quickly as possible?