Validating Your Business Idea
So, you’ve got a business idea. How & When to Fly, and How Not to Fall
So, you’ve got a business idea.
It’s all you can think about, and you’re excited by the idea of putting your all into this next venture.
The seductive pull of being your own boss is calling, but on the other line, that all too familiar voice is telling you you can’t. Who would buy it? What if you fail? How would you pay your rent? Fear creeps in in the form of paralysis and before you know it, it’s at the back of your mind again: a place full of to-do’s and what could be’s that you only visit when daydreaming. This, my reader, is a topic that comes up all too often when speaking to peers or those who have connected with me (cue shameless plug, @livkoennecke on Instagram & TikTok) seeking advice.
Here are the six questions/steps I think every potential founder needs to work on to validate their business idea.
What Problem Are You Solving?
What problem or need are you servicing? Who are your competitors? Why do customers need your product over theirs?
When I started MAISON ESSENTIELE, I was inspired to create premium silk separates & sleepwear brand, creating stylish pieces inspired by 90s & vintage aesthetic. This was due to my own frustration, not being able to find chic, high quality sleepwear on the market. Although we’ve now moved into Ready to Wear to service the demand our customer had (a conversation for another time), the sentiment hasn’t changed: we create vintage inspired pieces mixed with modern tailoring, using high quality materials, for less than what our competitors are charging.
So, what problem is your idea solving for your customer? How are you solving it? Why are you the one to solve it? These are all important questions to live and breathe when starting your brand or business. You have to believe it through and through, or no one else will.
Ask Your (Potential) Customer
Who is your potential customer?
Once you’ve figured this out, why not ask them if this is something they need?
Talk through the idea with friends and family members. Is this a pain point for them, too? If your customer or client isn’t within your inner circle, who can you speak with? An industry leader willing to lend some advice over a coffee or LinkedIn messages?
Your previous client who you still have a good relationship with?
The local corner store, where you’ve been going for years to get your morning brew?
Get comfortable speaking with people and gauge their feedback.
Get Online
Don’t wait until you’ve built your perfect product or service to secure your social media handles and website domain. MAISON ESSENTIELE existed as a moodboard on instagram for the first six months before any product was launched, with the words coming soon in the bio. By the time we launched our first collection, we had a small following on instagram. Bigger brands like Sporty and Rich, influencers & celebrities alike use the same strategy to this day. So what’s stopping you?
Build an MVP
So you’re still feeling like your idea is promising. Time to create a Minimum Viable Product, or MVP. Research, travel, and network until you find someone who is willing to help you create the smallest, cheapest (but good quality) version of what you want to create. If you’re a service based business, this could mean just a website.
If you’re creating goods, please, please, please don’t use your savings to order 1000 units or something in the hopes it will sell. I see this all the time and it rarely works.
Pre-Orders, Crowdfunding
Once you have your MVP, it’s time to get selling. Can you reach back out to your potential customers you originally spoke with, showing them your new solution to their problem? Or take pre orders via social media and a Shopify website? If it’s right for you, sites like Kickstarter are a great way to crowdfund projects in the way of pre-orders or “pledges”.
Don’t Quit Your Day Job
A lot of people don’t realise how long it starts to actually make money from your business. Any money you do make, you’re busy investing in new product, new marketing, and new operations to help get this thing off the ground. I didn’t take a salary for more than two years after starting MAISON ESSENTIELE. Those years were hard, as I juggled the push and pull of freelance work with building my brand. My best advice? Don’t quit your day job. Work nights, weekends and after hours on your idea, until it 150% demands your time during office hours. If you can, work a freelance or casual job that allows you flexibility whilst you continue to scale.
Unpopular opinion: starting a business is easy, scaling a business is hard. The problems above still arise as you create more goods, more services, need more cashflow and more support. But if you truly live and breathe your business, you can do it. Welcome, my readers, to running your own start up. More deep dives to come on this topic soon for paid subscribers.
Coming Soon on Creative Direction:
My Ins & Outs for 2025: Fashion & Business edition
How I Got Here: Media and industry names on their careers & how they got to be where they are today
Behind the Scenes of our new (yet to be released) Spring Summer collection, the inspiration, process and more (for paid subscribers)
City guides: NYC, Paris, Sydney (for paid subscribers)
Podcast episode with Sophie Hood, founder of Seoul Tonic & Don’t @ Me Podcast & more.
This Weeks Love List:
Calf Hair Mules by Burberry
Completely impractical, but I can’t stop thinking about these calf hair mules by Burberry. They feel very in for 2025: fun, boho, textured, but still chic.
Les Beiges Water Fresh Tint by Chanel
My go-to natural foundation: small droplets of pigment are suspended in a water-like serum, the best after-summer glow foundation to even out skin tone and texture.
A5 Refillable Journal by Aspinal London
There’s something magical about putting pen to paper. The Aspinal London journal is refillable, and keeps notes & to-do lists looking chic & put together.
Oversized Crew Neck Cardigan by MAISON ESSENTIELE
Literally my favourite trans-seasonal piece. Throw over my shoulders to look more put together in a tank, wear over jeans, silk slips, you name it. Made from an Alpaca and wool blend, I keep one at home and a spare in the drawer at the office.
Hair Botox:
Calling all frustrated, frizzy Sydney girls: I had this done right before the summer break and it has saved me. Essentially a mini-keratin treatment, it has about half the strength of a normal keratin treatment and works to smooth hair but not fully straighten, resulting in frizz free locks all year round. Blow dries last longer and hair separates less in the notorious Sydney January humidity. So far, I’m a fan.