How to turn your million-dollar idea into a million dollars.

Learn how to rapidly test your ideas in 24 hours and generate sign-ups.

In this week’s email 📈:

• Rapid idea prototyping.

• My new company unveil.

• My favourite resources from the web this week.

The big idea.

What do you do when a million-dollar idea hits you? We all know the feeling when we think we’re suddenly onto something. The truth is, an idea is worth nothing without execution.

If you don’t have a solid answer to the question above, then read on. I’m going to show you a bulletproof guide for rapidly testing ideas to get feedback/ack and sign-ups within 24 hours.

As an entrepreneur, speed is your best friend. You can have the best product in the world but if someone else beats you to it, they win. Even if their product is worse.

I hear what you’re thinking though, “I’ve not got the time, capital or audience” for testing my ideas in such little time. Don’t worry, you don’t need any of those (although they do help). What you do need is some creativity and urgency.

Ideas weigh you down until you get them out the door and let the market decide if they’re any good. Brainstorming all day is just cheap dopamine. If you’re serious about building, then you need to do exactly that.

Okay so here we go.

Step one: the killer landing page.

This can be done within 60 minutes. Simply mock up a first version on Carrd and ship it, don’t overthink.

Follow a simple copywriting formula which clearly shows what your product or service offers.

Your copy needs to clearly show:

• Which problems you’re solving.

• What the benefits are for your target audience.

• Call out your target audience.

• A call to action.

Focus less on your idea and more on what it does for the user. That’s what great marketers do. If you have previous testimonials then great, but don’t worry if not.

For the future, save the landing page you build as a template and edit it each time you’re testing a new idea to speed up the process. The more you do this, the better you’ll get.

Step 2: tell your customers what to do.

If you don’t tell customers what to do then don’t expect them to do it. The best way for measuring demand is to add a simple CTA, I recommend one or both of the following:

1. Pre-order link using Stripe.

2. Email sign-up link.

That’s it. If customers show commitment at this stage via payment or even just adding themselves to the waitlist, then you know you’re on to something.

Step 3: distribute everywhere.

Okay, so you’ve got your landing page and CTA for potential customers. Now it’s time for some hustle. Unless you get eyes on your prototype, you’ll never be able to test demand. So it’s time to focus on distribution.

Your aim is to speak to as many potential customers as possible to show them your idea and seek feedback.

Start generating interest by hanging out on channels

Start with:

• Your email list (if you have one).

• Slack & Discord channels.

• Reddit communities.

• Indie Hackers.

• Twitter.

These are the best places in my opinion to get some initial traction. Focus on networking and asking for 10 minutes of your target customer’s time to interview them either over Zoom or just have them fill out a feedback form and check out your landing page.

Alongside this, you can consider some paid options such as:

• Paid ads.

• Newsletter shoutouts.

• Twitter account shoutouts.

I recommend aiming to interview at least 10 people to find out their problems, which methods they’ve tried and most importantly, if they’d be willing to pay for your solution.

That’s it. A dead-simple but effective way to get your ideas from your head, to paper and in front of your audience. It all comes down to making some noise and focusing on the signals.

Over time this will become your default framework every time you have an idea. Aim to build accountability groups and expand your network along the way. Being surrounded by other people who are doing a similar thing will really help add to your success.

If you want to dig deeper into this process then just shoot me a reply here or on Twitter.

Around the web:

👀 Spy on your competition with Similarweb: break down a website to see key data like their traffic volumes and sources. Great for analysing ideas and scoping competition.

🤝 Your network is your net worth: find your dream mentor and build lifelong connections with this simple cold email framework from the legendary Alex Banayan. Definitely read The Third Door if you haven’t already.

✍🏻 Win The Week: review and plan your week with this simple weekly planner template.

Have a great weekend.

Tom Scourfield