You’ve validated your concept. It’s time to shift gears from ideation to implementation. At this point, you’re ready to build your minimum viable product (MVP), create a comprehensive go-to-market strategy and develop your operations plan.

The insights collected during the Ideation Stage—market size, customer preferences, buying behaviors, competitors, etc.—empower you to create a product that reflects your value proposition. You’ll also develop the foundational sales and operations plans needed for a successful launch… and the ensuing revenue.

Goals of this stage

Design Your Product

Develop the initial features and functionalities of your product, using the core concept from the idea stage

Create Your Go-To-Market Strategy

Create a plan to get, keep and grow your customer base

Outputs OF THIS STAGE

Website / Social

The digital brand and presence for your product

Sales Funnel Outline

The buying journey your potential customers take, from awareness to engagement to purchase
Download: Identify & Build A Buying Process »
Read The Blog: 4 Keys To A Killer Sales & Marketing
Funnel »

Product Roadmap

A document envisioning how your product will evolve over time

Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

The basic feature set required to launch and sell your product
Read The Blog: Who, Or What, Is The MVP? »

Executive Summary

A short written overview of your business and its milestones
Download: Executive Summary Template »

Pitch Deck

A brief presentation providing an overview of your business opportunity
Download: Pitch Deck Template »

Financial Model

A representation of your business’s financial situation (details include cash flow, P&L, future projections, etc.)
Read The Blog: The Fine Art Of Financial Forecasting »

Activities & Exercises to help you on your journey

Market segmentation

Divide your total market into smaller groups and augment with important data to drive go-to-market strategy
Read The Blog: Who Is Your Target Customer? »

Engagement channels

Determine the best methods for reaching your customers
Read The Blog: Engagement Is A Trip, Plan Wisely »

Customer archetypes

Create profiles and identify shared characteristics for your earliest customers
Download: Customer Archetype Template »

Pricing model

Validate your pricing based on customer/market research
Read The Blog: 3 Steps To Profitably Price Your Product Or Service »

Technical requirements for MVP

Determine/build the key functionalities needed for early users

Looking for more?

Use the buttons below to navigate to other areas of the Entrepreneur Roadmap.

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