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Business Idea Template

A progressive journey from idea to tech-leveraged business. Work through each stage—expand to reveal the checklist.

Where are you starting?

  • New Business → Start at Stage 0
  • Existing Business → Jump to Stage 3 (Tech Assessment)

Stage 0: Self-Assessment​

Before building anything, understand where you're starting from.

Founder Readiness​

  • Why now? What's driving you to start/change a business?
  • Risk tolerance? Can you sustain 6-12 months without income?
  • Time capacity? How many hours/week can you commit?
  • Skills inventory What do you bring? What gaps exist?

Idea Clarity​

  • Can you explain your idea in one sentence?
  • Who specifically has this problem?
  • Why hasn't this been solved already?
  • What's your unfair advantage?

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You can articulate why YOU should build THIS business NOW.

Stage 1: Market Validation​

The traditional barriers to entry are crumbling. Small teams can now build profitable businesses serving micro-niches that were previously economically unfeasible.

Market Research​

  • Identified a specific customer segment (not "everyone")
  • Found where these customers gather online
  • Analyzed 3-5 existing solutions (competitors)
  • Identified gaps in current offerings

Customer Discovery​

  • Talked to 10+ potential customers
  • Documented their actual words about the problem
  • Validated willingness to pay (not just "that's interesting")
  • Understood their current workarounds

Micro-Niche Opportunity Assessment​

  • Is this niche too small for big players to care?
  • Can you become the obvious expert here?
  • What's the minimum customer base for profitability?

Demand Signals​

Quick ways to gauge whether demand exists before building anything:

SignalMethodStrong If...
Search volumeGoogle Trends + Glimpse extension30k+ monthly, growing
Community sizeNiche subreddits, Discord serversActive, growing, complaining
Books existAmazon search for your nicheMany titles with good reviews
Ads runningMeta Ads Library, long-running campaignsSomeone's profiting already
WorkaroundsReddit, forums, support ticketsPeople hacking solutions together

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You have documented evidence (not assumptions) that people will pay for your solution.

Stage 2: Distribution First​

Distribution is becoming the primary moat. Minimum viable audience is more crucial than minimum viable product.

Audience Building (Before Product)​

  • Chosen primary platform (where your customers are)
  • Created content that demonstrates expertise
  • Built email list or direct contact channel
  • Established credibility through free value

Content Strategy​

  • Video content plan (mandatory for product launches)
  • Written content for SEO/discovery
  • Social proof collection strategy
  • Community engagement approach

Distribution Channels​

  • Owned (email list, website, app)
  • Earned (PR, word of mouth, SEO)
  • Paid (ads, sponsorships) - plan, don't execute yet

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You have an engaged audience waiting for what you'll build.

Stage 3: Technology Assessment​

Evaluate where technology can create leverage in your business.

Strategic Alignment​

  • Does AI/tech align with overarching business goals?
  • What competitive advantage could it provide?
  • What's the cost of NOT implementing tech?

Process Efficiency Audit​

  • Which repetitive tasks consume too much human time?
  • Where are the bottlenecks in existing processes?
  • What decisions could be data-driven but aren't?

Customer Experience Opportunities​

  • How can customer interactions be improved?
  • What data do you have on customer behavior?
  • Where do customers experience friction?

Data Assessment​

  • What data are you currently collecting?
  • What data COULD you be collecting?
  • How is data informing decisions today?

AI Integration Opportunities​

AreaQuestionPotential
AutomationWhat's repetitive?High / Medium / Low
Decision SupportWhat needs faster decisions?High / Medium / Low
Customer ServiceWhere do customers wait?High / Medium / Low
ContentWhat content do you need more of?High / Medium / Low
AnalysisWhat patterns are you missing?High / Medium / Low

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You've identified 2-3 high-impact areas where tech could create 10x improvement.

Stage 4: AI Implementation Priorities​

Product engineers are positioned to capture value traditionally held by consulting firms, marketing agencies, and corporate departments.

Quick Wins (Implement First)​

  • Content Generation - Marketing copy, documentation, emails
  • Summarization - Meeting notes, research, reports
  • Search Enhancement - Better internal knowledge retrieval
  • Text Classification - Categorizing inputs, routing requests

Medium Complexity​

  • RAG with Proprietary Data - Deep knowledge systems
  • Sentiment Analysis - Customer feedback, social monitoring
  • Entity Extraction - Structured data from unstructured sources
  • Translation - Multi-language support

Advanced Implementation​

  • Image/Video Processing - Classification, generation
  • Personalization Engines - Recommendations, dynamic content
  • Predictive Analytics - Forecasting, anomaly detection
  • AI Agents - Autonomous task completion

Risk Management​

  • What's the business tolerance for AI errors?
  • What are the ethical considerations?
  • How will you handle AI failures gracefully?
  • What's the human oversight model?

Cost & ROI Framework​

  • Implementation costs (including training)
  • Expected time savings (hours/week)
  • Revenue impact potential
  • Timeline: quick wins vs. long-term projects

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You have a prioritized implementation roadmap with clear ROI expectations.

Stage 5: Crypto & Web3 Opportunities​

Money is an abstraction for exchanging items of real value. Crypto enables new coordination mechanisms.

Foundational Understanding​

Business Applications​

Industry-Specific Opportunities​

Blockchain Infrastructure​

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You've identified which crypto primitives (if any) create genuine value for your business model.

Stage 6: Industry Vertical Deep Dives​

Apply operational efficiency to traditional industries via technology innovation.

High-Potential Verticals​

Physical Industries (DePIN Opportunity)

Enabling Technologies

Vertical Integration Assessment​

  • Which industry do you have domain expertise in?
  • Where are the biggest inefficiencies?
  • What's the regulatory landscape?
  • Who are the incumbents and what are they missing?

Resources​

Ready to advance when: You've chosen a vertical and identified your entry wedge.

Stage 7: Execution & Scaling​

Speed and adaptation are critical. The window of opportunity is unique but potentially brief.

Execution Priorities​

  • Start with smallest viable experiment
  • Build in public (leverage distribution)
  • Focus on speed to learning, not speed to perfection
  • Establish feedback loops with customers

Scaling Considerations​

  • What breaks at 10x current scale?
  • Where should you build vs. buy vs. partner?
  • What's your hiring strategy (humans + AI)?
  • How will you maintain culture as you grow?

Ongoing Assessment​

  • Weekly: Metrics review, course corrections
  • Monthly: Strategy alignment check
  • Quarterly: Major pivots if needed
  • Annually: Business model evolution

Resources​

Diagrams | Matrices | Thinkers

The Playbook Question​

What is the playbook for leveraging the latest science and technology to maximize growth and profitability?

The answer: Work through this checklist systematically. Skip nothing. Validate everything.

Explore the matrices of your mind to make connections and realize potential.