“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it.”
– Roy Ash (American Financial Wizard)
It’s true as the will to embrace risk with a hope to figure it all out, in the end, is what separates entrepreneurs from everyone else. But along with the determination to take risks it’s equally important for entrepreneurs to stay cautious and logically plan to work on their ideas to build high-end products.
Time and capital are the two most integral assets for a business. An entrepreneur has to use them carefully so that not to stuck up in an unclear and expensive path at the end. But what should be the very first step of an entrepreneur after an idea is born? The answer is roadmapping or prototyping the idea before embarking into the development process.
It’s essential for businesses to create a roadmap or prototype before launching their next effort and evaluating next steps. Basically, a prototype is the functional version of the end product that can be used for getting feedback from the target audience before you officially bring in your solution to the market.
Strategic roadmapping clarifies the concept and make sure that the entrepreneur has a full-proof plan for seamless development. Also, prototyping can help investors and stakeholders to fill in the gaps who find it difficult to envision a finished product or service properly. As per the giant automaker Ford, it saves up to $439k and months of lead-time through rapid prototyping.
But still the majority of entrepreneurs ignore the process of creating a roadmap for their product and ultimately their idea dies. In order to give them an awakening call, let’s explore the top eight reasons why you should roadmap your idea before developing it.
1. Get Down To Work Quickly
Being human entrepreneurs also have several doubts and questions before beginning a new venture. But by creating a product roadmap it becomes easier for them to take the first step and get down to the work quickly. Also, it reinforces their trust that there are no bad ideas and makes them even more confident.
2. Get Clarity & Precision In Your Approach
Strategic roadmapping gives you an overall idea of the entire journey of your end product. It helps you to define and sharpen the concept in a better manner. Also, you can do market research and find out specific requirements of the users so that to create a comprehensive product roadmap that has the potential to provide more value than your competitors.
It will allow you to gain an edge over others by highlighting the unique value proposition of your product. High-fidelity and interactive prototypes give a clear idea to the stakeholders about the functionality of your end solution.
3. An Exclusive Way To Validate The Idea In The Real-World Scenario
For raising funds first of all you need to validate your idea in the market. With the help of comprehensive prototyping tools in the market, you can easily do this. Also, when creating a roadmap you can pick a few app metrics such as app engagement and usage in order to save you from the pain of building an app that might not work in the future. Or, you can partner with a professional app development company who can create an interactive prototype for your product.
The prototype is the visual working version of your end product that solves the doubts of angel investors or venture capitalists and let them see the real potential of your solution so that they can decide to invest in your venture happily.
4. Plan Out The Development Process Effectively
Prototypes let you gauge what all you will be doing in order to successfully execute the project. Also, it gives an idea of the resources required and the costs involved. This is beneficial in planning the entire app development process better and dedicating sufficient time and money to each individual stage.
5. Spot Issues Early & Make Modifications Easily
As per a survey conducted by Clevertap, where they researched on 2000 mobile app users bugs and technical glitches are one of the many reasons why people uninstall apps. But roadmapping gives you the golden opportunity to identify the issues with your product early in the development process and make necessary modifications so that to enhance its usability.
Testing the product prototype allows you to evaluate user interactions and rectify errors in order to build a valuable product for the target users. You can use different methods to gather user feedback such as direct approach, surveys, polls, etc. and use these suggestions for developing a consistent UX.
6. A Cost-Efficient Alternative To Minimize The Maintenance Costs
In order to build a product, an entrepreneur has to invest a lot of capital which can range from thousands to even millions based on the customization and maintenance needed. If you create the end product without first creating a prototype it might cost you a fortune to overcome inefficiencies in the future.
But roadmapping allows you to save a lot of your time and money which you would have to spend on maintenance if you later find that the product is not in accordance with specific business requirements.
7. Boosts Creativity By Analyzing Multiple Ideas Quickly
The prototyping is a creative process as it gives the entrepreneur an opportunity to try different variations of the idea. Also, they can explore different approaches and tweak the idea easily in order to eventually come up with a product/market fit. Analyzing different product ideas allow them to use their creativity and ensure that the end product will be valuable and efficient.
8. Helps In Winning Customers’ Trust
Customers can actually see your preliminary version of the end product in the form of a prototype rather than just envisioning it. This allows you to win their trust and confidence as they will be sure about the usability of your solution from the beginning and will take even more interest when you will launch your product.
With the help of creating a roadmap for your solution before developing it can streamline the whole journey of bringing your idea to life. Prototyping assures that you will definitely have a well-crafted and reliable end product that will win the hearts of your target users.