Hi Reader,

One of the biggest sources of frustration as a business owner is the feeling of spinning your wheels. It's hard enough to gain traction for a product or service in a booming economy. It's infuriating to feel stuck during a recession. Yet, the market we are facing today isn't like it was a couple years ago.

AI, high interest rates, inflation, and a slew of other things has changed the landscape. Venture capital isn't flowing. We're on our own. Let's make sure we're putting in work on a business that has a strong likelihood of success.

If you're going to read anything this week:

There are only two ways to build a business. We can enter an existing industry and make a better solution. In this scenario, we can gauge if there's an appetite (demand) for the solution. But, will customers switch to our offering? The other route is product or service innovation. We can find a problem that isn't solved and build a solution for it. Neither path is easy.

Here's what founders often do.

1. Have an idea for a new solution to a problem
2. Invest their own money or raise money to build it
3. Spend heavily on bringing the solution to life

This approach is flawed. If you read between the lines, you'll find a founder that is making a lot of big assumptions without getting validation. As entrepreneurs, we are great at convincing ourselves that our idea will be the next Facebook or Airbnb. It's what we do.

On Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, the former CEO of Netflix, Marc Randolph, said something profound. He shared that when you have an idea you're ready to chase, you should collide your idea with reality as soon as possible!

As business owners, we always want to know whether a customer will actually pay for the thing we want to sell them. How we do it varies on what we're selling. But, the key is to not convince ourselves we need a ton of bells and whistles to get started.

The movie-rental-by-mail concept was tested by purchasing a music CD and walking around a shopping area asking prospects. Would you rent this from me if we gave you a stamp and envelope, and all you need to do is stick it in your mailbox? Turns out, plenty of people loved the idea of not having to drive to a store and pay late fees when they didn't return on time.

After we get some scrappy validation, it's worth it to build an MVP (minimum viable product). A good way to understand an MVP is like this: It's the first version of your offering that you're probably embarrassed to show people. It's the bare necessities. Often, even things that feel automated to the customer are done manually behind the scenes.

​Airbnb's first MVP test was renting their apartments out to three guests. They didn't even have a way to collect payments. A founder personally collected the cash from each renter.

Thankfully, the world has changed. There's an app for everything now. We can Frankenstein many parts of our business to test it with prospects.

We are looking for PMF (product market fit). Andy Rachleff, co-founder of Benchmark Capital, coined the term. Product-market fit occurs when a company addresses a good market (large, monetizable) with a differentiated product (unique, compelling) that can satisfy a specific market segment’s needs.

Andy suggests testing the three parts of our strategy that create our business:

• The value hypothesis (insight)
• The implementation (product)
• The growth hypothesis (go-to-market strategy)

Before we overspend on talent, technology, and all the other stuff, hit pause. How can you take your insight (solution idea) and test the crappiest version (MVP product) of it to see if there is any demand? That's it. Collide your idea with reality as soon as possible!

Oops, I have to extend the deadline...

I didn't realize that this service would be so popular! I'd like to offer you a free website audit. Together, we'll take a look at 3 important factors in the customer's experience:

1. Load Times
2. Design
3. Mobile Experience

The goal is for you to leave with some actionable steps. While ours will be more in-depth, here's a sample on Olipop. You'll be surprised how small changes can make big impacts. Don't miss your free chance to learn and grow!

FYI: This is an offer for my subscribers. Here's what my regular clients have to pay.​

If you want to save time:

Get ahead with Expensify: I'm money savvy but I don't love the nitty gritty of personal finance. Each year, I backtrack to create a spreadsheet of my business expenses. It's not efficient. It's dumb. Try out Expensify. Record your expenses on the go, with your phone. It'll tidy up that end of the year tax process we all hate.

If you want to save money:

Use Air: Running a business takes a lot of content. We're constantly adding to our library, so organization is a must. I used Air at my last company. It's a digital asset manager (DAM) and one of the most affordable around. Never lose an image or video again. It'll be with you everywhere you go. I love that you can even search your archive by color in case you're curating a theme for your feed. It's a great tool that's always improving.

I'll see you next week!

All my best,

Justin Bridges 2x Founder, Startup Marketer, Plant Dad🌱

P.S. Quick question: Did you forward this email to someone last week? The economy is weird right now. Don't hoard all the goodies. Past this along to someone building a business. You're doing them a favor.