You have a lot of business ideas and most of them won’t work. But how do you know which will? Starting a business is a high-stakes venture. Nearly half of all businesses fail within five years, and over a 10-year span, that number climbs above 65%. You need to know if your idea is good to avoid wasting your time.
42% of startups fail simply because there’s no market need for their product or service, but idea validation research is what separates startup success from startup failure.
Founders who’ve failed agree. 58% said they would have done more research before launching, and the same percentage wished for a stronger business plan. Thorough idea validation can help you avoid failure.
Don’t let the stats discourage you, but don’t become a statistic yourself. Vet your business idea and find the success you know you’re capable of. Here are seven ChatGPT prompts to help you do just that.
ChatGPT prompts to validate your idea: boost your odds of success
Explain your idea
“I have a business idea and it could be amazing. I’m going to get your help assessing whether it’s good. But first, I’m going to tell you about my idea. Acting like a motivated business strategist, first, ask me to describe my business idea. Once I have explained, don’t pass judgment or provide feedback. Instead, simply ask 3 follow up questions about my idea, one by one, then wait for instruction on the next steps.”
Open up ChatGPT and paste this prompt. It’s going to ask you about your business idea. Hit record on the microphone icon and ramble away, describing it in great detail. Don’t worry about waffling or pausing. As long as you speak clearly, the robot can handle it. Answer the follow up questions and then tell it what to do next.
Get excited
“Now you understand my business idea, hype me up. Give me a motivational pep talk about why this idea is the most fantastic idea you’ve ever heard. Describe a vivid scene of crowds rushing to buy, my website crashing under the number of visitors, and testimonials from happy customers coming through as I bask in my success. Be incredibly over the top. Deliver this description and await your next instruction.”
ChatGPT is going to get incredibly excited. Read what it says and see if you agree. Can you see this idea creating the success it has flamboyantly described? If not, that’s a red flag. How does the visualization make you feel? If you’re not excited this early on, you won’t stay motivated through the tough times ahead. Make a self-assessment and proceed with the next prompt.
Find the problem it solves
“Now I want to pinpoint the exact problem this idea solves, so I can effectively sell it as the solution. Suggest 10 specific pain points my idea could solve for potential customers, and ask for the three that I think are most prominent. The goal is to get the top three pains so I can be confident my idea will spark interest and someone will be compelled to buy.”
If you’re not solving a problem, people will be indifferent. And you don’t want that. This prompt will test if there’s a genuine need for what you sell. Don’t skip this step, and don’t invent problems that aren’t real. Your idea has to be relevant now.
Define your ideal customer profile
“I need to define the specific person that my product will be for, so I can find this person and see if they would want to buy. This person should have the problems we have outlined above. Suggest 5 descriptions of my ideal customer profile (ICP). Include their hopes, dreams, beliefs and knowledge gaps. Include their demographics and their pain points. Ask me to choose the one I want to focus on for this business idea.”
If you don’t know who is going to buy your products or services, you might not have a business. Get crystal clear on who it’s for, who it’s not for, and then get inside their head. Don’t spend any cash without undertaking this thought experiment.
Understand their indifference
“Now you know my business idea, my ideal customer profile and the pains it solves for them, give me 10 reasons it won’t become a successful business. Include reasons that my ICP might be indifferent to what I offer. I will select the most likely 3. For each of the 3 reasons I choose, provide a counter argument, plus a strategy for how I make it work despite this reason.”
Your competition is not someone with the same idea as you. Your biggest competitor is apathy. If someone doesn’t really care, they won’t buy. Ask ChatGPT for all the reasons for apathy and remove them one by one. If you can’t avoid this business killer, you need a better idea.
Get an assessment
“Based on everything I’ve told you so far, conduct an assessment on whether or not my idea will succeed. Include five short, sharp statements on why it might work, followed by five pitfalls to avoid, with reference to my ICP and their reasons for apathy. Use clear, simple and direct language and be brief.”
Read the results and see if you agree. If the idea is a goer, you need to talk to potential customers. If it’s not worth pursuing, repeat the process with another one.
Talk to customers
“I think my idea could succeed and I want to do further validation. Acting as a business advisor, suggest how I find 30 people to talk to about my business, to sell it to them before I begin. Give me an opening value proposition, about my idea, that will grab their attention and open the conversation, then suggest 5 questions I should ask them. Finally, give me options for how I get buy-in from them, potentially including taking a deposit, joining a waitlist or getting a written confirmation that they will buy.”
People will tell you that your idea is good. But unless they’re going to become your customer, it doesn’t matter. This is where the rubber hits the road. Can you get people signed up? Will they put their money where their mouth is? Have those initial conversations, get the expressions of interest, and build your idea into reality knowing that you’ve got your first bunch of eager buyers.
Start a successful business: ChatGPT prompts to validate your idea
Use these prompts to start conversations with ChatGPT about your business idea, to make sure you have all the information before getting in too deep. Explain your idea, get excited, and find the exact problem it solves. Define your ideal customer, understand why they might not buy, then find them in real life and make some sales. Beat the odds and build a thriving business. I believe you can.
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