How do you validate a B2B idea?
I am working on an idea and would like to businesses to opt-in on it before I start working on an MVP. The businesses I am looking at are Recruitment Companies. I can get hold of their email addresses via LinkedIn and other job platforms, but I am sure they are not decision makers when it comes to making a payment - Subscription based model. So how do I go about validating my idea? At the moment, I am thinking of a landing page where they fill out email address and click "opt-in". The landing page explains how it works, what it solves and also a kicker for first 100 opt-ins. Then I send them cold emails with a screenshot of the landing page and a link to take them there. Or I could have and opt-in button there as well that already has the email address. Is this ok?
This article seems relevant to your situation, and recommends talking with people to validate the hypothesis you have about their problems and the value you offer by solving their problems
http://danshipper.com/nothing-happens-until-the-sale-is-made
I'm doing exactly the same thing right now- not a line of code until I know there is at least some demand for what I want to build.
(I don't know about you, but at this point its a constant battle with my own psychology- some days the idea is great and totally worth it, other days I'm an idiot for thinking people want this... the user interviews are giving me confidence though.)
But to your question...
Good observation + legitimate fear. Maybe what makes sense is to understand how recruiters buy/request software first.
Are they independent or part of a larger entity? Do they have signing authority up to $X? Maybe you need to get to the frontline recruiters and ask them to grassroots kick the request up the chain for you? Maybe ask them who their stakeholders are and ask for an introduction? I think Lynne Tye talked about this in her IH interview about keyvalues.io a bit- check that out if you haven't yet.
A landing page feels like it could be a good test- spend a few dollars and get an idea if people are searching for what you're building, and get an idea of how much you'd need to spend to market effectively before you build out SEO.
I think you have the right idea. Inside the cold emails maybe you word it in such a way that directs them to respond before pasting the link and screenshots within? Maybe do that in a follow-up email if they respond. This could help validate where you devote your time toward the right people before validating your product.
I think getting a conversation going with even a small group would open up doors for you to pitch your idea. When I get cold emails the ones that stand out are very personable and usually ask me a question before getting into the "sales" part. I'm a hard sell but sometimes I do indeed reply.
Hi Tej, I was targeting recruiters (in-house recruiters) with my previous startup, HireVoice. You can read the story here.
We burned contacts, lost face in meetings, got stuck in political dead ends, etc, etc. This led to me spending 2 years researching B2B product validation and writing the book Lean B2B . You can get a sampler here.
With HireVoice, we tried landing pages, but it didn't work. Hard to get real commitment.
I did a lot of cold emails to get volume with my current business. It's a good way to reach the right people, but it's hard to get clear confirmation that they'll buy (people sign up to landing pages all the time).
The best thing to do is to pre-sell your product like Matthew mentioned.
I would recommend:
I hope this helps. :-)