Step 1.
Talk about your idea to your closed ones like a friend or a spouse. See if they are excited about it? Talk to a few more of your close friends and see what they think. It's ok to tell them you are considering of getting into this seriously and ask them their honest feedback.
Step 2.
Do a search on the web to find if someone else is already doing it. Don't be heartbroken if someone else is because chances are 99 times out of 100 you'll see that your idea has already been implemented in some fashion or another.
Step 3.
Now, don't give up if your idea was already implemented by someone else. Try and see how many other people are doing it? Is there room for improvement? Could you do it at a lower cost etc.
If no one has implemented it yet, try to answer the question, "Why?" . Chances are that the business model didn't scale or there was no real need for it in the market place. Spend some more time doing your research and talking to your friends and exploring the idea. If possible talk to someone who has some start-up experience and see what they think about your idea.
Step 4.
Once you have a gut feeling that your idea is viable, you should check if there's a need to prototype your idea. I would recommend a prototype only when there is no real product out there similar to your idea. If there's one, then you can point people and tell them that you are trying something similar yet with these differences.
If you are building a prototype, make sure it has enough feature so that you could show it to people, let them use it and get their feedback.
In my next post, I'll share with you how to find the right people to help you build your prototype.
In the meantime if you would like to share your experiences, please add a comment.
