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One of the most intimidating things you’ll be able to do as an entrepreneur is stare at a blank piece of paper. However, it is also the most vital.
Taking the time to visualize your product and its various use cases allows you to see how your idea can go from concept to real product. It is particularly essential, especially in the initial stages of the enterprise, to devote time to creating a product prototype.
It goes beyond drawing. Playing with materials like paper and cardboard to build a physical representation of your product, whether you are building for the physical or digital world, allows you to move to the next phase with a real plan. It allows you to test ideas, get feedback, and modify the design, all before you begin coding or using real materials.
As director Weissman Foundry at Babson College, I help emerging entrepreneurs and business students bring their ideas to life through creative and practical applications. I run our renowned makerspace on campus, a place where our business students can bring their ideas to life. I like to remind students not to think of prototyping as a routine process; relatively, it is an impulse to bring an ephemeral idea to fruition.
Is there a blank page in front of you? Here’s how to turn it into something useful in your prototyping process.
Brainstorm freely
It’s easy advice, but because it really works. Start by laying all of it out—on paper, that is. Write down all the things that come to mind when you think about your product. My favorite approach to brainstorming is sketching notes, which use words, drawings, doodles, and symbols to express ideas. Find a method that makes you’re feeling uninhibited and allows you to express your thoughts in a way that you could then internalize.
I recently taught a session at an entrepreneurship program for highschool students on digital app design and development. Before students began building prototypes with paper and scissors, I emphasized the importance of taking time to rigorously consider their idea. This process ensures that you simply keep your goal customer top of mind from the starting.
Then add structure
During the brainstorming process, you’ll be able to cover a number of topics, from aesthetics to functionality to features aimed at your audience. When you begin listing every part you know about your product, you will start to notice belongings you didn’t consider. Once you have spent enough time brainstorming, you’ll be able to start to categorize your ideas and refine them.
You want to get to the point where you are considering about how you are going to use your product. I like to recommend considering about your product as a part of a narrative. How does your product fit into your day? Your commute? Your working day? During a meal or before bed? Do your kids or spouse use it? Would you utilize it while traveling?
Besides, what story do you would like to tell? For example, many of my students want to tell the story of sustainability through their products. How does the project communicate this? This narrative prompt also helps define the problem you are trying to solve.
Keep your tools easy
Advanced tools like 3D printers, vector editors, and coding software will come into play at some point. But why waste time and money up front when office supplies are cheaper and more available? It’s much easier to mix up the paper than to try it out in the coding tool.
Start with office supplies. Things like rubber bands, index cards, and paper clips are durable, versatile, and challenge you to get creative. You can easily share them with colleagues relatively than working on separate files. The better part is that you have been using these tools since elementary school, so there is no learning curve. They offer you the gift of time.
When leading students through a brainstorming session about app ideas, I asked them to literally start visualizing what the app would seem like on a piece of paper, whether it was vertically representing a phone or horizontally representing one other screen. This step eliminates distractions and you do not waste time on complicated product design that you simply later discover doesn’t work or your customers don’t love it.
Consider feedback your best friend
It’s easy to get stuck in building a product for yourself when you are actually building it for your customers. You want to think beyond your demographic. The strongest tool you have as an entrepreneur is knowing what someone doesn’t like, what they like, and why. The best opinion is honest, specific, nice and serves the product. When I have an idea for a product that is ready for this stage, I ask for feedback from friends in various industries outside of education, including real estate and finance.
To gather feedback on your prototype, share it with members of your immediate circle and ask for feedback from online communities comparable to Discord, Reddit, and other social media platforms. Having a physical prototype made inexpensively from paper materials might be easily shared and refined after receiving feedback. You may do a lot.
Even if the feedback comes from an audience outside your audience, it’s going to all help inform the design of your product. Having an analog, physical version of your product helps you make it more universal, expand your audience and learn more about your space, all at a low price.