Maximizing Your Project's Potential: Tips for Accelerating And Testing On A 5000 EUR Budget
When it comes to getting the most out of a tight budget for any project, a systematic and structured approach is the way to go. This move translates into minimal risk, cost optimization, maintaining brand integrity, and the opportunity to innovate faster. It also increases the chances of your project being part of the 35% that achieve success.
It all starts with a pool of about 100 ideas where only 20 make it to the development stage. For the chosen ones, you have to evaluate market size, revenue potential, visibility, future capitalization, and ease of competition. You then conduct a full market score to determine if the ideas meet market demands. And once that's been covered, you test the product-market fit by replicating the product idea and assessing the conversion to sales.
Given that a 5,000-euro budget is an affordable sum for many, maximizing your project's potential within this constraint is an attainable goal when allocating resources properly. Daniil Kirikov, CEO and Founding Partner at Orbita Venture Studio, recommends spending around 500-1,000 euros on market research and the rest on product-market fit testing. So, here's a guide on how to supercharge your project's potential.
1. Brainstorm ideas with a 3-point scale scoring system
Collaboration is key. With partners and key employees, harness the power of collective intelligence. Evaluate each idea on a 3-point scale, considering factors like market size, competitiveness, and revenue potential. Votes then go through pre-set parameters so you can narrow the list down to the top 20.
As Daniil Kirikov says: “So far I've seen that the winning ideas have one thing in common: the team personally believes in them and they're not just for the sake of chasing trends. This tip streamlines the decision-making process and fuels the passion for the projects you undertake.”
2. Set aside 10-20% of the budget for market analysis
A comprehensive market analysis is often an 80-ish-page research document. But what you want to do is to create a 1-page summary describing the following:
- Overall idea of the project
- Target market / niche
- Potential market growth
- Technical obstacles
- Competitor pricing
- Business model options
- Market pain points
- Extra research insights
In the tech world, active competition signals market demand, Kirikov emphasizes. No rivals? Maybe no market. Many tech experts believe tweaking existing products is less risky and more profitable than introducing cutting-edge innovations, given the high costs and potential market misunderstandings of new ventures.
And sometimes the study can even involve talking to competitors' customers. After interviews with the target audience and third-party consultants for second thoughts, you can review the findings and how well they match your project's checklist.
3. Check whether or not there's product-market fit
In tech, validating a product's value early is key. It allows swift pivots based on real feedback, not just hunches. Orbita Venture Studio’s CEO recommends to drive your vision with focused marketing and tap into potential users to measure conversions. Products that hit the mark naturally boost traction. And a word to the wise: startup chats often spotlight the risk of overcomplicating things. Clear, user-centric solutions often win.
Reasons to work on product-market fit as soon as possible include:
- Track customer journey from interest to purchase
- Understand the goals of the customer
- Calculate costs and lead generation expenses
- Monitor customer reactions and behavior
- Test and optimize targeting strategies
- Evaluate customer preferences and click patterns
- Craft effective landing page content
- And develop lead conversion tactics
In the inception stages of Relotech, one of Orbita's projects aimed at expats that helps to solve all the main problems associated with moving, founders saw a need to streamline news via social networks. With a modest investment of below 5,000 euros, in collaboration with partners, the project quickly showed robust potential.
Surprisingly, Relotech burgeoned, charting a 30-40% monthly growth, solidifying its niche dominance in the region. The cornerstone? Adaptive guides. This approach, minimal in marketing efforts, resonated deeply with users, aligning it with some top-tier media giants.
For some projects, two funnels are parallel and it's necessary to count the economics of both during product-market fit. All this is what makes up the 5,000 euros.
4. Draft multiple types of project financial models
Now, it's time to create a financial model for the project. Think of B2B/SaaS, for instance. The next step is calculating the financial model to evaluate the project's viability and economic feasibility. Here's how it can be broken down, according to Daniil Kirikov:
- Initial Deep Dive: to understand the product's purpose, associated costs, and user interaction. Direct targeting can shed light on user tastes and fine-tune landing pages.
- Crunching the Numbers: to get into the fiscal mechanics of the plan, validate the blueprint, and calculate its NPV. Some endeavors? They might warrant a look at dual-track funnels.
- Market Onslaught: Armed with a robust financial strategy, the product is primed for an immediate launch, targeting aggressive lead capture and significant revenue growth.
Harnessing the power of these phases ensures that every project's financial framework is finely tuned to its distinct beats and details. This strategy drives sales while delving deep into user experiences, unmasking a venture's authentic potential.
5. Learn by taking a closer look at real-world examples
When Orbita Venture Studio conducted demand testing for Big Bro, they were happy with the initial results. Part of the experiment was having a checkout process without actually charging money. Just to get insights on how payment conversion works and when it happens. And then refund.
All of a sudden, people reached out saying they couldn't pay. Customers were so motivated to solve this "payment issue" that they didn't care that much about the landing page or design. If you're serving a niche, users will find you everywhere—even if you're hidden underground. This highlights the power of consumer mechanics.
It doesn't stop there, though. The team sought to apply these insights to another venture in a different context, a tool that deals with product reviews for vendors in marketplaces. Orbita launched it in India.
The project had two funnels—one for testers and one for vendors. While vendors found the service valuable, it was expensive to find testers, which led to an imbalance. There were more testers than vendors who were the actual paying customers.
At the same time, Orbita Venture Studio tested the project in Germany, where there were lower lead costs. It turned out to be a tight niche. The team realized that this was because hiring someone in Germany to manually do what the product does was more complex. So they filled that gap.
After completing the brainstorming, market analysis, and product-market fit, the financial model will help assess the project's profitability and tell if it makes sense to invest more resources in implementation. With a green light, your project will go through validation, NPV evaluation, and a swift market launch—putting you on the right track.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc. and Nasdaq® is a registered trademark of Nasdaq, Inc. The information contained above is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and nothing contained herein should be construed as investment advice, either on behalf of a particular security or an overall investment strategy. Neither Nasdaq, Inc. nor any of its affiliates makes any recommendation to buy or sell any security or any representation about the financial condition of any company. Statements regarding Nasdaq-listed companies or Nasdaq proprietary indexes are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investors should undertake their own due diligence and carefully evaluate companies before investing. ADVICE FROM A SECURITIES PROFESSIONAL IS STRONGLY ADVISED. © 2023. Nasdaq, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.