What are your core assumptions about your future business? Here is how to find out. 

As you begin forming your new business idea in your head, you start to see a business that works. Customers, suppliers, employees—a brand people love with services or products that delight them. As you see that picture of the future in your head, there are certain factors that you are assuming will happen. For instance, a product or service people need. Since you haven't started your business yet, you probably don't yet know for sure that people need your exact product or service. Therefore "a product or service people need" is an assumption. These assumptions are good because no innovative business can be started without some healthy leap of faith assumptions. 

We want to identify the core assumptions you are currently making and find a way to test them. Quickly! 

Here are a few questions to get started. There is space at the end to outline even more as they come to mind. 

What are you assuming about your future customer that, if you were wrong, would dramatically affect the success of your business? (Examples: Their willingness to pay; how much customer support they will need; how likely they are to switch to your company; length of the sales cycle)

What are you assuming about your product or service that, if you were wrong, could hurt your chances of success? (Example: Cost of production; cost of shipping; cost of the facility; product lifecycle; future need of service; quality of product or service)

What are you assuming about the market you will be working in that if you were wrong, could hurt your chances of success? (Example: Market size, market trends, potential disruptors)

What are you assuming about your competitors that, if you were wrong, could hurt your chances of success? (Example: Their future product or service lineup; how quickly they could launch a similar product; their current market share) (If there are no current competitors, then list that as an assumption.)

Make a list of any additional assumptions that come to mind.

The next thing you need to do is take this list of assumptions and find a way to design tests for each of them. Some you will be able to solve by doing some simple market research. Others will require you to talk to customers or even try to pre-sell your product or service. To dive deeper into identifying testing assumptions, check out our course "Evaluating Your Idea."

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