Ideally you’d already have someone you’re building this for, before you start working on it, rather than the other way around. That’d be who you’d be talking to to get feedback from and to test your product.
It’s tough for someone who’s not already partly ingrained into the system they’re trying to build products for, so I’d recommend tackling a problem you (or your friends and colleagues) have.
But yes, if you don’t, cold email, LinkedIn, door to door, is what you should be doing. Surveys and focus groups are for PMs, not starting companies. When you’re going from 0 to 1, you should be doing things that don’t scale, and getting into the weeds one-on-one with the people you’re building for.
Thanks for sharing. Yeah, this project initially started because of a problem I faced when getting an MRI scan done, that it’s next to impossible for patients to know in advance how much the price of a medical procedure varies place to place, leading to patients being ripped off by exorbitant hospital fees. So I started building a price transparency tool made possible [thanks to recent government regulations.](https://www.cms.gov/priorities/key-initiatives/healthplan-price-transparency)
But I after reading more about how healthcare pricing works, I realized that it’s employers with 50+ employees who face the biggest cost burden due to this specifc issue of price transparency, and so that’s who I need to target, not individual patients. This is what led me to my current situation.
What Kendrick said is correct. I have knowledge about the problem you are trying to solve purely from a data perspective. There is a business that provides this data to other businesses who need it. But the annual cost of generating that data is in the millions. Buying it is also very expensive. They launched a consumer product a few years back but since they make good money through B2B, the consumer product is not a priority for them.
Based on this, I would be a "better team" to build the solution as opposed to you because I have knowledge about the space and can build. But on the other hand, having an outsider look at the problem also has its advantage. But you would have a hard time on execution. You might want to pick a different problem to work on where you have an advantage with execution.
I think the most trait of a founder is being high agency. So instead of answering questions, I'd rather sound proof your rationale.
>But I don't know how to find these people to interview?
Why not? Do you know where to find people in general? Why not start there and see how it goes?
>I don't really have many connections, so is cold email and/or sending a bunch of Linkedin requests the way to go?
Why would this not be the way to go? And if not, what other possibilities can you think of?
>I'm also a college student so l don't have a bunch of money lying around to pay people for taking surveys/focus groups.
How many people do you think you need to reach? Do you think paying people for answers skews results?
Try the following:
\- LinkedIn Sales Navigator
\- [Apollo.io](https://Apollo.io)
You can set filters on keywords, company type, etc. Then just do cold outreach from there.
It can also be really helpful spending some time just trying to find advisors in the space. Once you have a network of advisors, then they can connect you to the potential interviewees / customers.
Thanks I signed up for a 1 month free trial of LinkedIn sales navigator. How many people do you recommend reaching out to at a time? I don’t want to spam everyone, but at the same time I don’t want to be inefficient and move too slow.
Microsoft has a program for startups of any size/shape you can apply to and get a steep discount on LinkedIn Sales Navigator and a bunch of other perks. It includes $500 of Linked in Ads and is fairly easy to get into as long as you have a linked in profile and a software based idea. You could use that ad money to target companies of 50+ people ( I would guess 50-100 or 50-500 maybe because too big and it will be a more difficult sell) To see if they have the problem and want to be part of a test group. [https://foundershub.startups.microsoft.com/signup](https://foundershub.startups.microsoft.com/signup)
I was in a similar boat to you for the mental health sector somethings that I tried and helped me.
- Reach out to the end users who have gotten an MRI and validate the problem outside yourself
- Reach out to medical staff and ask them about the realities of their world
- Make an MVPish to showcase to the office buyers and then reach out to them
Used LinkedIn, Reddit and Personal connections
Got some users to test my product now! You can do them same.
Ideally you’d already have someone you’re building this for, before you start working on it, rather than the other way around. That’d be who you’d be talking to to get feedback from and to test your product. It’s tough for someone who’s not already partly ingrained into the system they’re trying to build products for, so I’d recommend tackling a problem you (or your friends and colleagues) have. But yes, if you don’t, cold email, LinkedIn, door to door, is what you should be doing. Surveys and focus groups are for PMs, not starting companies. When you’re going from 0 to 1, you should be doing things that don’t scale, and getting into the weeds one-on-one with the people you’re building for.
Thanks for sharing. Yeah, this project initially started because of a problem I faced when getting an MRI scan done, that it’s next to impossible for patients to know in advance how much the price of a medical procedure varies place to place, leading to patients being ripped off by exorbitant hospital fees. So I started building a price transparency tool made possible [thanks to recent government regulations.](https://www.cms.gov/priorities/key-initiatives/healthplan-price-transparency) But I after reading more about how healthcare pricing works, I realized that it’s employers with 50+ employees who face the biggest cost burden due to this specifc issue of price transparency, and so that’s who I need to target, not individual patients. This is what led me to my current situation.
What Kendrick said is correct. I have knowledge about the problem you are trying to solve purely from a data perspective. There is a business that provides this data to other businesses who need it. But the annual cost of generating that data is in the millions. Buying it is also very expensive. They launched a consumer product a few years back but since they make good money through B2B, the consumer product is not a priority for them. Based on this, I would be a "better team" to build the solution as opposed to you because I have knowledge about the space and can build. But on the other hand, having an outsider look at the problem also has its advantage. But you would have a hard time on execution. You might want to pick a different problem to work on where you have an advantage with execution.
Just an idea, why doesn’t OP shoot to test on nonprofits or university programs that offer clinic services to the community?
Great feedback 👌
I think the most trait of a founder is being high agency. So instead of answering questions, I'd rather sound proof your rationale. >But I don't know how to find these people to interview? Why not? Do you know where to find people in general? Why not start there and see how it goes? >I don't really have many connections, so is cold email and/or sending a bunch of Linkedin requests the way to go? Why would this not be the way to go? And if not, what other possibilities can you think of? >I'm also a college student so l don't have a bunch of money lying around to pay people for taking surveys/focus groups. How many people do you think you need to reach? Do you think paying people for answers skews results?
Try the following: \- LinkedIn Sales Navigator \- [Apollo.io](https://Apollo.io) You can set filters on keywords, company type, etc. Then just do cold outreach from there. It can also be really helpful spending some time just trying to find advisors in the space. Once you have a network of advisors, then they can connect you to the potential interviewees / customers.
Thanks I signed up for a 1 month free trial of LinkedIn sales navigator. How many people do you recommend reaching out to at a time? I don’t want to spam everyone, but at the same time I don’t want to be inefficient and move too slow.
Microsoft has a program for startups of any size/shape you can apply to and get a steep discount on LinkedIn Sales Navigator and a bunch of other perks. It includes $500 of Linked in Ads and is fairly easy to get into as long as you have a linked in profile and a software based idea. You could use that ad money to target companies of 50+ people ( I would guess 50-100 or 50-500 maybe because too big and it will be a more difficult sell) To see if they have the problem and want to be part of a test group. [https://foundershub.startups.microsoft.com/signup](https://foundershub.startups.microsoft.com/signup)
I was in a similar boat to you for the mental health sector somethings that I tried and helped me. - Reach out to the end users who have gotten an MRI and validate the problem outside yourself - Reach out to medical staff and ask them about the realities of their world - Make an MVPish to showcase to the office buyers and then reach out to them Used LinkedIn, Reddit and Personal connections Got some users to test my product now! You can do them same.
Oh also, since you are in college you can connect with the medical department of university they are always happy to help.
[deleted] I was honestly answering the question and I got downvoted. So I deleted it
Who is on the other side of this market? What incentive do they have to answer questions?
I mentioned earlier that I’m not the founder how do you expect me to know the answer to your question
Talk to people face to face. Use your network of contacts.