We have been launching companies out of our Studio for the past seven years. The more we do it, the more I believe there is a science/process to starting a company regardless of what the idea is. Not all will ultimately be successful, but I believe you can significantly increase your chances of success. We have lots of tools and a Startup 101 that take you through the process, but here are three key areas to get right.

Start with a problem that can grow over time

Find a space that you are truly passionate about. Uncover the problems in that space (The Mom Test).  Prioritize which problems are most must-have. Then start talking through potential ideas. This will be an iterative process. As a bonus, find a market that may appear small/niche now, but that you believe can have a major unlock over the next 5-10 years.

Find true authentic demand

We don’t officially launch a Studio company until we find authentic demand. You can simply define that as people will pay for the product before it exists yet. Don’t fall trap to everyone telling you they love your idea, they will use your product, and they would pay $X for it … they likely won’t! Instead, get design partners to pay to build a first version with you. You get paying customers, better feedback, and more rapid iteration without spending a lot of money.

Do things that don’t scale before you build a bunch of tech

While you are working with the design partners, pay attention to common use cases, features, upsell desires, etc that are consistent across multiple customers. Once you start seeing that consistency, then you can build an early version of the product. Until then, leverage services, spreadsheets, and low/no code tools to cobble together a working version that can prove ROI and establish the value proposition. No problem if you haven’t found consistency; if so just stay in the same mode and iterate until you find it.

While there are many other details, moving the process from Passion -> Problem -> Idea -> Authentic demand -> Consistent value proposition before building a lot of tech can ensure you don’t build too much too soon when launching a new business.