Beyond doing a Concierge service or building an Alpha Community, in this section, we describe several other ways to work with your customers and test out your value proposition. Keep in mind that the easiest way to get your customers to engage with you is to offer something valuable to them. When reading through and thinking about what type of pilot test makes the most sense for you at this point, consider the following:

• Will you be able to implement this within a week?
• What problem are you focused on solving for the customer, and will this solution help?
• How will this test help you learn about what you need to build in terms of what value you're providing and the features you need to develop?

Other Types of Pilot Tests

For all founders:

• Build a tool, for example, a calculator or a template
• Produce content, for example, a guide, a Blog, or a how-to video
• Put on a workshop or host a Webinar
• Organize an event

For the design or tech-savvy founders:

• Do a Wizard of Oz test
• Test prototypes & demos
• Build a functional Product

Tools

Description:

Create something your customers can use themselves to solve a problem they've identified. The tool can take the form of anything from a custom-coded website to a self-administered quiz via Typeform (link) to a template or calculator created on Google spreadsheets.

Benefits:

The main benefit is that this solution test is very scalable (you could get lots of people to test it and give you their thoughts). However, these types of solutions are limited to pretty specific problems you already know how to solve.

Questions to ask yourself from this Pilot:

• Did I already solve their problem? If so, do I monetize this product, or can I expand on it? Is it a large enough market that I can sell ads?
• Are they asking for more? Is there something more premium that I can build on top of it?

Examples:

Calculator

• Example: friend groups go out to eat; they frequently have trouble figuring out how much each person needs to pay because the tip isn't included. You create a calculator that allows people to enter their bill amount and group size, select a tip percentage, and it spits out an individual amount.

Quiz / Self-Assessments:

• Example: Have trouble deciding what to watch tonight on Netflix? Take a quiz on your mood, preferences, and how much time you have. The quiz will give you a list of recommendations.

Template

• Example: A doctor's clinic needs to understand how to manage the financial aspects of their business, including how much money to spend on advertising and staff. You create a financial projections template specifically for small private clinics.