Will It Fly?

What Hacker News says

1. lcordierSep 2024
   "The new business road test" - John Mullins "Will it fly" - Pat Flynn

   "Start marketing" - Rob Walling (https://robwalling.com/assets/ebook.pdf) I recommend the article on "Why Startup Founders Should Stop Reading Business Books" ;)

   https://youtu.be/19WpIbBhxJU

   (don't know where I got this...)

   Ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

     Explanation:
     AWFUL IDEA           -1
     WEAK IDEA             1
     SO-SO IDEA            5
     GOOD IDEA            10
     GREAT IDEA           15
     BRILLIANT IDEA       20
     
     NO EXECUTION         $1
     WEAK EXECUTION       $1000
     SO-SO EXECUTION      $10,000
     GOOD EXECUTION       $100,000
     GREAT EXECUTION      $1,000,000
     BRILLIANT EXECUTION  $10,000,000
   

   To make a business, you need to multiply the two.

   The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20.

   The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.

   That’s why I don’t want to hear people’s ideas.

   I’m not interested until I see their execution.

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2. fransMar 2022
   A book recommendation that deals with exactly this topic: Pat Flynn's Will it fly? https://patflynn.com/book/will-it-fly/
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3. faeyanpiraatAug 2021
   Have you read Pat Flynn’s “Will It Fly”?
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4. tmalyOct 2020
   I have not built anything that has made big money.

   All I can say is try to do a market analysis to see who the competition is and where there are opportunities within the space.

   Pat Flynn's Will It Fly book covers this pretty well under the market map section.

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5. tmalyJun 2020
   I you read some of the lean startup type books, you get the idea that you need to speak to customers first.

   Pat Flynn had this idea of making a market map in his book Will It Fly. I think this is similar to Amy Hoy's Sales Safari. The idea is to go around online forums and other places where users are having discussions. You look for pain points by certain keyword questions.

   These method works great when there is a forum and a good number of people discussing a problem. But if you recall the 1% rule, there are 99% of the people not talking online and contributing content.

   Rob Walling had another method where he used the Google Ad tools to gauge search volume. I am not sure if this really works anymore given changes to those tools.

   This makes me wonder if finding product market is really just luck. What is your take on this? Is it luck or are there better methods?

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6. tmalyJun 2019
   Find an existing market first. It is much easier to sell to people that are already looking to buy something. Just because someone says something is a problem, it does not mean they will open up their wallet.

   I have built stuff that nobody wanted. I put in far too much time on these projects only to hear crickets at launch.

   Here are a couple of books that I found helpful for getting me to approach things from a different perspective:

   $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

   Will It Fly by Pat Flynn

   This is Marketing by Seth Godin

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