ideaI have an idea for some software and I think it’s a great idea. What is the best way to gather data to see what people think and how useful it really would be to them>wsw
Note, I wrote for a long time, before noticing annoying “You need at least 10 reputation to post more than 2 links, so now I have to re-edit and reformat the whole answer
I have been wondering about this a lot as well. This is not a real answer, but I’m new and can’t post comments. I am assuming you don’t want to go open source and are talking about proprietary app.
From what I’ve gathered problem is that you don’t want to give up details about your idea, for fear of someone else beating you to the punch. I will list some links from what I’ve figured so far. Any input is appreciated. I will try to divide this into Protecting your idea and Testing viability of the idea/app/project.
Patents are not cheap and you can wait a long time for approval. If you do get patent, you are covered for, I believe, up to 20 years. But it can easily cost more then development of your whole app (invention) Now, there is this thing called
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_application
Under United States patent law, a provisional application is a legal document filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), that establishes an early filing date, but does not mature into an issued patent unless the applicant files a regular non-provisional patent application within one year.
The provisional application is also not “published”, but becomes a part of any later non-provisional application file that references it, and thus becomes “public” upon issuance of a patent claiming its priority benefit. A “provisional” is automatically abandoned (expires) one year after it is filed.
go to Wikipedia and read about Non-disclosure_agreement
A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share
Note that you can’t really copyright an idea, you can however copyright parts of the code, graphics/interface elements .. you get the idea. It is cheaper then patent, but it doesn’t stop competition to make a variation of your product. So it only protects you from someone copying your work.
There are more things that I could list here, and I will try and expand this answer later when I catch some time. I will just list few more things before talking about testing if your idea is viable.
Trademarking
Popular research tools is Google’s Keyword Research Tool now named KeywordPlanner there are other alternatives that don’t require you to have AdWords account. Try to figure how many people are searching for terms that relate to your idea. Research everything you can, from Twitter (unfortunately Topsy was shut down, but there are alternatives)
Do as much as you can yourself to try to figure out how much the project would cost to develop, what is potential ROI (go to Wiki and read about Feasibility Study since I can’t any more links)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product
You can build a simple landing page with minor investment in marketing campaign, and analyze if there is interest in your idea/product/app. You can do this even if you haven’t created an MVP
Create a Business Plan
Schedule consulting session with experts
I have to stop now, I will edit the answer when I catch some free time. Hope I at least gave you a basic idea. I am also trying to figure this out.
Talk to end-users. There really is no other way.
But do it right. They’ll mostly tell you “hey, it’s a cool idea.” Ignore that BS. Don’t be salesly, listen to what you’re actually fixing, and push forward: “How much would you pay for it?” That’ll give you a firm reality check.
And then, get back to those that gave a price: “OK, cool, so I think we’re going to move forward… would you sign a pre-order at [identified price]?” And that’s when you’ll either get a cold shower or see the light and move forward.
You need to conduct market research.
It depends how far you have come-
Just started
There are a number of services (e.g. surveymonkey) that will help you put together a survey and then send it out to your prospective customer base. You should seek to have a mixture of open and closed (e.g. yes/no) questions and also likert scales (1-5 rankings) asking about importance of key parts of your app. I would put in a few possible screens shots of your app and ask for feedback. This will give you data.
Have a prototype
I would approach companies and self-employed people you know (if you don’t know any just call local businesses). Ask them if they would be willing to test your app and give feedback. You will probably need to give them an incentive. You can then interview the people or conduct a focus group. This method is called qualitative analysis.
Either method will give you data and if done correctly will inform you of both; how good your idea is and also how it can be improved.
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