A complete guide on rapidly testing and proving your business ideas.

1. 50+
Lean validation
experiments.
Rapid ways to test and prove your business ideas.
in collaboration with
VENTURISM

2. Introduction

3. Lean experimentation is a critical part of building
new businesses. It provides validated proof that
customers want your concept, that you can build it,
and that it’s profitable - all before you make heavy
invests in time, money or resources.
To help you find the right validation for your business
concept, we’ve created this library of battle-tested
experiments used by our Venture Builders in every
track.
From digital methods to face-to-face interactions,
each experiment describes when best to use it, the
results you can expect, the average cost of running it
and the time investment required.
Jelmer Peerbolte
Head of Bundl Amsterdam
Co-founder of Venturism
Leyash Pillay
Head of Content
at Bundl
LINKEDIN LINKEDIN
EMAIL
VENTURISM
in collaboration with
VENTURISM

4. How should they use this resource?
New business ideas will always have unpredictable
elements, and without evidence-based foresight, there
can be serious damage.
This methodology enables you to validate ideas quickly
and at low cost, creating the opportunities needed to
adapt your business concepts based on reliable data.
The goal is to reduce the risks and speed up the delivery
of value-creating services in the market.
We’ll focus on assumption mapping, experiment design,
and listing the experiments you can run.
The lean experimentation
methodology
Assumption
mapping
Experiment
design
Run
experiments
Learn
Start a new
cycle
Kill

5. Assumption
Mapping Assumption
mapping
Experiment
design
Run
experiments
Learn
Start a new
cycle
Kill
Discovering your current
level of uncertainty

6. New ventures are chock-full of
unknowns and assumptions–that’s
normal. If left unchecked, this will
most certainly increase the number
of speed bumps in the process.
Identifying your riskiest
assumptions and creating a plan to
validate them, ultimately provides
you with a data-driven way to stay
ahead of any bottlenecks.

7. 1. Discover risky assumptions of
desirability, feasibility, and viability.
2. Prioritise assumptions on the scales,
crucial/non-crucial and known/unknown.
3. Choose the validation approach that
best fits your venture (it’s in this deck).
The Assumption Mapping exercise is
done in three stages using a canvas:
USE INTERACTIVE VERSION
DOWNLOAD THE CANVAS

8. Assumption
mapping
Experiment
design
Run
experiments
Learn
Start a new
cycle
Kill
Experiment
Design
The four questions of
experiment selection

9. 1. What type of assumption are you
testing?
Pick experiments based on your main learning
objective. Some experiments produce better
evidence for desirability, some work better for
feasibility, and some are more appropriate for
viability.
Desirability: Do customers really need, and enjoy
this product?
Feasibility: Do you have the operational capabilities
to provide the product?
Viability: Do you have a profitable and sustainable
business model?
Responsibility: Does the concept address social
and ethical concerns?
Aim to validate all four aspects across the entire
assumption validation effort.
Feasible
Viable
Desirable
Responsible

10. 2. How much evidence do you already
have for a specific assumption?
The less you know, the less time, energy, and
money you should waste.
If you don’t have much initial evidence, your aim
should be to get just enough proof to point you
in the right direction. Quick and cheap is the
way to go.
Conversely, the more you know, the stronger
your experiments should be. In this case,
spending a bit more time and resources is the
right approach.
Viable
Reliability
Cost
Speed
The balancing act of these three criteria should be based on
your current level of uncertainty. Let the evidence you
uncover guide your next steps and your priorities.

11. Insights
Job to be done
Emotion
Behaviour
Context
Insights
Overall opinion
Audiences
Calculation input
Can I translate my findings
to a larger group?
Why do people
make this choice?
Quantitative
Qualitative
3. What type of data will give you the
right insights to validate an assumption?

12. Market
Which target market
resonates best with
the concept?
Opportunity
Is there a real
opportunity for the
concept to be
successful?
Scale
Can we scale
the concept?
Commercial
Do people understand
the concept’s value
proposition and
commercial story?
Problem
What valid problem
is the concept trying
to solve?
Solution
Does the solution
proposed solve the
problem?
4. Which aspect of the concept are
you trying to validate?

13. Assumption
mapping
Run
experiments
Experiment
design
Learn
Start a new
cycle
Kill
Run
Experiments
Selecting the right
methods of validation.

14. Lean validation experiments

15. Overview of experiments
Keyword Research
The Mom Test
Trendspotting
Technological Developments
Stakeholder Interviews
Value Chain Analysis
Stakeholder Mapping
Expert Fly-In
Scoping Session
A Day In The Life
Digital Survey
Boosted Blog Post
Digital Advertising
Paper Prototype
Clickable Prototype
Landing Page
The Upvote
Crowdfunding
Email Campaign
Brochure
Pop-up Store
Superhuman Engine
Salesforce Test Run
Letter Of Intent
Business Case
Visual Prototype
Technical Prototype
Explainer Video
Smoke Test
Interest List
Pre-order
Concierge
Wizard of Oz
No-code MVP
Mystery Shopping
User Test Recording
Viral Loops
Beta Launch
Waiting List
The Ghost CEO
Deconstruction
The McDonalds Test
The Zombie Test
The Gut Check
Painkiller or Vitamin
Net Promoter Score
Cohort Retention Analysis
Organic Growth Rate
Customer Support
Fake Button
Buy-A-Feature
Lifecycle Analysis
TestFlight

16. DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
The Mom Test
Asking friends, family and fools whether they
like your product or business idea.
Pro Tip
Do not use the mom test!
Friends, family and fools will always be positively
biased towards your ideas.
Their responses may paint a brighter picture than
reality, and cause you to make skewed decisions.
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

17. Keyword Research
Research Google Search trends, volumes and
quality within your market using tools like
SEMRush, Ahrefs or ExplodingTopics.
Pro Tip
Most people just research keyword volume.
Be sure to also look at the keyword trends,
meaning keywords growing in volume.
They are equally, if not more important.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

18. Trendspotting
Look for trends in user behaviour. The source
can be anything from online observation,
magazines, reports and data, to your own
intuition.
Pro Tip
The way people interact with a product or a topic
reveals a lot about their needs.
The sneaker first came about when people began
wearing sports shoes as a fashion statement. Only
afterwards did Nike start designing them with that
purpose in mind.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

19. Tech Developments
Similar to trendspotting, except you look for
new technologies that might have an impact on
your market.
Pro Tip
It’s easy to list emerging tech in a generic way, like
AI and VR and leave it at that. The true value is in
trying to predict how the technology might change
your market.
Tools like Miro and Zoom have helped Bundl host
workshops remotely, making it easier to work with
international clients.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

20. Stakeholder
Interviews
Interview individual stakeholders in your
ecosystem to better understand their needs
and pain points.
Pro Tip
Your goal is to identify their most critical pain.
Every pain relates to a certain goal or mission.
Ask stakeholders about their goals, before you ask
about the barriers to achieving them.
Use techniques like “asking why 5 times” to arrive
at that point.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

21. Stakeholder Mapping
Visually map out all the stakeholders in your
market, along with their needs and pain points.
Then identify ways they could solve each
other’s problems.
Pro Tip
See if and how stakeholders can solve each
other’s needs. This could become your first draft
value exchange.
AirBnB and Uber were able to counterposition
Hotels and Taxis this way respectively.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

22. Value Chain Analysis
Break down every step from raw material to
product and consumer on multiple levels (e.g.
stakeholders involved, resources spent, costs,
time, etc.).
Pro Tip
Understanding the value chain makes it easier to
spot gaps, or opportunities for improvement.
Try to make steps in the value chain more
accessible, like Shopify did. You can also check if
there are any stakeholders you can skip over.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

23. Expert Fly-In
Invite topical experts for a feedback session.
Present any opportunities, problems or ideas
you’ve spotted or created and let them poke
holes in them.
Pro Tip
Experts have a very educated, but very
concentrated view on things. Sometimes they see
their part of the map, but not the whole territory.
Always ask “why" something is a good or bad
idea. Avoid yes/no answers.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-1000

24. Scoping Session
Invite the decision-making people involved in
your innovation project to decide which
markets and opportunities to pursue in the
project.
Pro Tip
For venture builders / agencies.
Ask about team-members’ dreams & pitfalls. Do
some market research beforehand and identify
relevant opportunity spaces, so that the exercise
becomes one of “eliminating opportunities” rather
than “finding” them.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

25. A Day In The Life
Tail a potential user for a day and make
observations. This will help you understand their
journey and the challenges that arise.
Pro Tip
Ask them to document their thought process in a
Customer Journey Map:
- What did they do?
- How did they feel about it?
- What challenges did they face?
- How did they solve those challenges?
Analyse / Ask what their actions imply about their
needs.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500/user

26. Digital Survey
Send a “one-to-many” questionnaire to a
potential target group in order to get feedback on
the problem, solution, or perceived value of a
product.
Pro Tip
Keep things short, with a maximum of 10
questions. It should take no more than 5 minutes.
• Aim for 80% quantitative feedback.
• Use 0-5 scoring and prioritisation questions.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-5000

27. Digital Ad
Run a digital ad campaign teasing your solution,
or talking about the problem. Use Facebook or
Google and analyse if people are interested.
Pro Tip
A/B Test different variations of the problem
and the solution, to see which gets the best
response.
Make your targeting as niche as possible.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST > €500

28. Find out how we used
validation experimentation
when creating The Park
Playground.
SEE FULL CASE STUDY
A venture by:

29. Boosted Blog Post
Write an opinion-piece blog post outlining a
problem / solution and boost it using a small
amount of money to see if people read and
respond to it.
Pro Tip
If your product were a blog post, what would it
look like? That’s what you want to write.
Outline the problem and a potential solution. Don’t
be afraid to be a little bit polarising.
Measure your qualitative interactions (comments)
as well as open / read statistics and likes / shares.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €50-250/post

30. Paper Prototype
Use pen, paper and scissors to create a mock-
up of your app and ask users to interact with it
as if it were software. Get their feedback on what
is or isn’t working.
Pro Tip
Co-create with your customer by using your
mock-up to iterate on the fly.
The benefit of paper prototyping is that you
can redesign a screen fast and gauge
customer preferences.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

31. Clickable Mock-up
Build a digital mock-up using Figma, Sketch, or
Adobe XD. Test it with actual users to find out
how usable and understandable it is.
Pro Tip
Ask users to record their screen and
verbalise their thoughts as they are going
through the prototype.
Give them pre-defined assignments and see
if the UI is effective enough for them to get
things done without any help.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

32. Landing Page
Build, launch and drive traffic to a landing page
explaining your product and see if people sign-
up / pre-order / fake check-out.
You can use ads to increase traffic.
Pro Tip
Choose a single action you want people to
perform, then measure it. Common actions
include “interest list sign-ups” or “pre-orders”.
Create multiple variations of your landing page to
test things like branding, pricing, etc.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-5000

33. The Upvote
Launch your product on a curation platform like
Product Hunt. Check how well they are
“upvoted” to estimate people’s interest in the
product OR to drive traffic to a landing page.
Pro Tip
Even when using a high-traffic platform like
Product Hunt, you’ll still have to invest a lot in
driving traffic to your specific page.
(Organic) promotion is a large part of a successful
upvote campaign.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

34. Crowdfunding
Launch your product on a platform like
Kickstarter to measure buyer-intent while
leveraging the crowd to raise funding.
Pro Tip
Even more so than with the Upvote, promotion is
the key to a successful campaign.
Kickstarter is basically a pre-sales strategy, so
expect to invest resources in marketing.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0-2500

35. Email Campaign
Run an e-mail campaign targeted at potential
customers to gauge problem- or solution-fit.
Pro Tip
A pre-existing e-mail list with the right target
audience, makes validation that much easier.
Simply ask them for feedback.
Go as niche as possible with your e-mail targeting.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0-2500

36. Online Communities
Use target audience communities like Reddit to
share your product idea (in any form). Ask your
most niche audience for feedback.
Pro Tip
• Aim for qualitative feedback.
• Ensure there is value or reward in it for the
community members.
• Can’t find a community for your niche?
Consider a “community-first” approach
and start your own!
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

37. Brochure
Physically hand out a flyer or brochure and
observe if people read it, toss it, scan the QR
code, etc.
Pro Tip
Few people read flyers / brochures. Use design to
grab their attention, or package your sales pitch
with value.
Conversion on flyers is hard to track. Try to funnel
them to digital with a QR code.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Market
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Opportunity
Scale
COST €0-500

38. Pop-up Store
Open a temporary Point-of-Sale to check if your
sales numbers validate your business case.
Pro Tip
Trade fares and festivals are a great place for pop-
ups.
Use the pop-up store to validate your business
case, especially the average order value and unit
economics associated with it.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €5000

39. Superhuman Engine
Use the Product-Market-Fit quantification engine
pioneered by Superhuman (Google it).
The idea is to ask potential customers how big
the pain of losing your product would be.
Pro Tip
Be sure to use your questionnaire / interviews as
an opportunity to capture feedback about
improving your product.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €5000

40. Sales Force Test Run
Have your sales team pitch a B2B proposition to
potential customers as if it were already live and
for sale. The outreach should be direct e.g. by
phone or using tools like LinkedIn.
Pro Tip
Take preorders or letters of intent to measure
conversion.
Use the feedback from your sales team to
optimise your pitch.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST Discount %

41. We’ve built over 200 corporate
ventures in the past 10 years.
Taking each one through the
Discover, Pilot, Launch and Grow
phases of a venturing journey–all
boosted by validation experiments.
Trusted by leading
corporations.
DISCOVER OUR SERVICES

42. Letter Of Intent
Best used when pitching to B2B customers. If a
potential customer signs a “letter of intent”
stating they will purchase your product as soon
as it’s finished, that’s as good a validation as any.
Pro Tip
Use digital signing software to smoothen the
process.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

43. Business Case
Build an in-depth financial projection to learn the
dynamics of your business e.g. unit economics.
Determine the Y1 startup cost, and the Y5+
revenue potential.
Pro Tip
Identify the key levers in your business case, and
test their sensitivity by creating best- & worst-case
scenarios.
Look for exponential (non-linear) growth.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

44. Visual Prototype
Use a visual, physical, non-functioning prototype
to gauge commercial interest in your (physical)
product. This is only for physical products.
Pro Tip
This is also a sales tool. Make it visually appealing
and communicate what your product does
conceptually, using mock-ups.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0-100k

45. Technical Prototype
Use a functional, non-aesthetic prototype to test
the technical feasibility of your product. The main
question is: can we build this? Can we get this to
work? A scale model can in many cases be
enough.
Pro Tip
Technical prototyping is an iteration game. Don’t
worry too much about perfecting it at this stage.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0-100k

46. Explainer Video
Create a video or animation explaining your value
proposition and test it with end-users. Gather
data on things like interest, content quality,
information retention and /or information
reproduction.
Pro Tip
• Keep it under a minute.
• Focus on your commercial story as much as
your actual solution.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-5000

47. Smoke test
Launch a website as if your product were already
available for sale. See how many people try to
buy it.
Related: Pre-orders
Pro Tip
• Capture the e-mail addresses of those interested.
• A/B test different variations of the landing page
to optimise for conversions later on.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €5000.+
READ EX PL AINER BLO G PO ST

48. Interest List
Ask interested users for their e-mail address so
you can keep them informed about your
upcoming product. Use this as a measure of
commercial potential.
Pro Tip
Use referral incentives to increase your reach and
accelerate the growth of your interest list.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-5000
Enter email address Join waiting list

49. Pre-order
Give users the option to pre-order your
proposition at a discount, to gauge interest and
commercial potential.
Combines well with: Smoke Test.
Pro Tip
As with the Upvote and Crowdfunding, this tactic
requires a marketing investment.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €5000

50. Concierge
A form of MVP where on the user's side things
seem automated, but behind the scenes they are
solved manually.
The main goal is to simulate the end-experience
for the user, and gather their feedback on it.
Pro Tip
Try to learn as much about the process by doing it
manually, so that you can automate it effectively
later on.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

51. Wizard of Oz
Test a prototype that gives the impression of a fully
functional product, but actually has no code behind
it.
This approach also works for some physical
products. The Nicola electric truck was infamously
rolled down hill to create their promo video.
Pro Tip
Calculate your cost & time savings up front.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

52. No-code MVP
Build a fully functional MVP using no-code tools.
To be clear, the MVP DOES run on code, but you
don't have to do any of the coding!
Pro Tip
Build multiple MVPs within the same opportunity /
solution space, and funnel them like an
accelerator would.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €5000

53. Mystery Shopping
Complete the buyer's journey for one or more
competing offerings to learn from them. Then use
the experience to improve your proposition on
multiple levels.
Pro Tip
For digital journeys, record your screen to capture
your actions, and verbalise your thoughts and pain
points.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0-500

54. User Test Recording
Ask users to record themselves and provide
voice-overs while performing pre-defined tasks in
a prototype.
Pro Tip
• Do not guide the user.
• Simply provide instructions e.g. “try to post a
picture on your timeline”.
• Comfort the user: There are no dumb users,
just bad designs.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-2500

55. Viral Loops
Use gamification techniques to incentivise users
to share your product and attract new
customers. Check out viral-loops.com.
Pro Tip
Building virility into your product, like social media,
rather than adding it on top, like most ecomm
stores, makes it much more powerful.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST Discount %

56. Beta launch
Launch a fully functional MVP in a controlled test
group for testing and learning purposes. The
operative word here is: controlled test group.
Keep your groups small and respond to
feedback and issues quickly.
Pro Tip
Use the exclusivity of beta-access to generate
pre-hype and create momentum behind the
eventual launch.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €10k+

57. Waiting list
Create a numbered waiting list where interested
users can drop their e-mail addresses. You can
use gamification for users who want to move up
the list.
Pro Tip
• Works well with the Beta Launches.
• Leverage people’s excitement to join, by
asking them to share, refer and pre-order.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €500-5000

58. Want to know how
to do a Smoke Test?
We’ve explained
everything in this
video.
WATCH NOW

59. The Ghost CEO
Are you able to delegate your work in a way that
makes you the Owner on paper, but actually others
are making it happen?
If yes, it’s a huge indicator of having set up a
successful business. Real money works without you.
Pro Tip
Delegate / automate single tasks at a time until
you have phased yourself out – do not make this
change overnight.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

60. Deconstruction
Break down competing / adjacent businesses on
all levels e.g. audience, value proposition,
branding, channels, business model, etc. and
learn from their experience.
Pro Tip
• Try to understand the needs/market gaps that
competitors fill.
• Identify how competitors differentiate
themselves.
• Try to find gaps in their positioning that you
might fill.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

61. McDonald’s Test
Automate or simplify all processes in your
business until they can be copy-pasted without
affecting your bottom line.
At McDonald’s everyone can learn to make a
burger, and produce a result of predictable quality.
Pro Tip
• Mostly for brick & mortar businesses.
• Your automation setup has to work across
multiple cultural and environmental contexts – or
easily adapt to fit each.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €100k

62. The Zombie Test
Startup-life is a race against the clock. Or rather, the
funding. Ask yourself:
Is my company default alive or default dead?
Meaning: can it survive on its current P&L, or will it
bankrupt without another round of funding?
Pro Tip
Combine the Zombie Test with other product-
market-fit tests. It is not a standalone validation.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

63. The Gut Check
A common response to the question “What is
product-market fit?” is: You’ll know it when you
experience it.
Hence, do not discount your entrepreneurial gut
in evaluating PM-fit.
Pro Tip
If you’re unsure whether you have PM-fit, you
probably don’t have it.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

64. Painkiller or Vitamin
Another gut-check:
Does your solution actually solve a crucial pain,
making it a need-to-have, or is it a non-essential
vitamin, making it a nice-to-have.
You want to create a painkiller.
Pro Tip
People occasionally buy vitamins, but they always
buy painkillers.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

65. Cohort Retention
Analysis
Measure the retention (%) of a new user cohort
over a prolonged period of time (e.g. 1+
month).
Retaining customers is cheaper, and more
worthwhile, than acquiring new ones. It is also
harder, unfortunately.
Pro Tip
Particularly relevant for subscription businesses
where Customer Lifetime Value is the North Star
Metric.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

66. Net Promoter Score
(NPS)
Poll your user base for its promoters and
detractors and calculate the NPS.
The central question here is: “How likely would
you be to recommend product x to a friend?”. A
promotor will score ≥8. A detractor ≤6.
Pro Tip
If possible, try benchmarking your NPS results
against competitors.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €5000

67. Organic Growth Rate
An indicator of Product-Market fit sometimes
used for software businesses is: Does organic
growth + traffic account for ≥50% of new users?
Pro Tip
If the answer is no, map your offering’s growth and
look for gaps / optimisations.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

68. Customer Support
Go undercover in customer support for a few
days to discover customer needs and pain points
first hand.
Pro Tip
Write down every question, pain point and
observation so you can check how common they
are with other Customer Support personnel.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

69. Fake Button
Create a non-functioning button in an existing
product to test interest in a new feature.
Measure the percentage of people that tried to
click it as an indicator of interest.
Pro Tip
Do not overuse this tactic, as it can detract from
the overall UX.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

70. Buy A Feature
Give users a limited amount of mock-currency to
spend on a handful of features. This will enable
you to discover their preferences and priorities.
Pro Tip
Base the “pricing” on the effort and cost of
building the feature on your end. So features that
are more difficult for you to build, are more
expensive for customers.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST < €500

71. Lifecycle
Assessment
Perform a cradle-to-grave analysis on the
resources to determine their ecological impact.
Important factors to consider include things like
end-of-life disposal and CO2 pollution, among
others.
Pro Tip
The map is not the territory. It’s never as simple as
a spreadsheet. Elements interact.
Go out into the real world and talk to experts
about how to reduce your ecological footprint.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale
COST €0

72. TestFlight
Beta-test an app on an “invite-only” basis or as a
“public beta" using the Apple TestFlight app.
This one only works for iOS products, but is a
great source of insight and referral.
Pro Tip
Feature your app in the unofficial Airport App - the
app store for iOS apps that are in beta.
DATA TYPE
Quantitative
Qualitative
SPEED
RELIABILITY
COST €100-500
TYPE
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Responsibility
RELEVANT ASPECT
Opportunity
Problem
Solution
Commercial
Market
Scale

73. Wrap-Up

74. The earlier you
start validating
assumptions
the higher your
chance of
success.
Validating your business ideas before
investing too much too soon will set
your venture up for success.
Going through the assumption mapping
process first, then planning out your
experiments will save you lots of time
and money.
Use this deck as a handbook and refer
back to it whenever you embark on a
new business venture.
Happy innovating!

75. We can guide you through the
process and help your
company achieve venturing
success.
Feel free to reach out and
start the conversation.
Feeling inspired
but unsure
about which
experiments are
perfect for your
project?
Thomas Van Halewyck
Co-founder and managing
partner at Bundl
LINKEDIN
EMAIL