Idea evaluation framework

New ideas are always exciting. We get hands-on and start building too early, only to lose interest later.

Here is a list of questions I currently use to reflect on ideas before I build them.

Who am I building for?

• Where can I find them?
• Do I have easy access to where they are?
• Can I describe the my potential users in a short sentence?

What problems do they have today?

• Can I explain the problem in simple words?

What is my solution?

• What do I have to build?
• Is it technically feasible and possible?

What is the current state?

• How do people solve it today?
• Who are the competitors? What is wrong with them?
• Is my solution so much better to make them try it?
• Have someone else tried this before?
• What are the reasons for people to not use this? Can I solve this?

Why now?

• Why is now the best time to do this?
• Why haven’t anyone thought of this before?

Is this for me?

• What is my unfair advantage?
• Is this something I want to do for next 10 years of my life?
• Does it align with my personal vision?

Answering all that question might take a lot of time. But thinking about these things will give you more time to reflect on the idea and decide if it is worth pursuing.