145. Idea Templates

Use these templates when an idea is still fuzzy. Fill them quickly. The goal is not a beautiful document; the goal is to make the idea concrete enough to test.

Use one page per idea. If a field is hard to fill, do not hide that with clever wording. Mark it as an assumption and design the next test around it.

Idea capture sheet

Field	Fill this
Idea name
One-line version	We help [customer] solve [problem] by [approach].
Customer segment
Trigger event	What makes the problem urgent now?
Current workaround	How do they solve it today?
Pain evidence	Conversation, observation, data, or personal experience
Why now	Market, tech, regulation, behavior, distribution, or cost change
Existing alternatives	Direct and indirect competitors
Possible wedge	Narrow entry point
Riskiest assumption	Customer, problem, value, channel, payment, or delivery
Next test

Example:

Field	Example
One-line version	We help small exporters collect supplier compliance documents without chasing across WhatsApp and email.
Customer segment	Export manufacturers with 20-200 suppliers.
Trigger event	Audit, shipment deadline, buyer compliance request.
Current workaround	Admin team follows up manually through WhatsApp, calls, and spreadsheets.
Riskiest assumption	They will pay for a workflow tool instead of continuing manual coordination.
Next test	Interview 10 export ops managers and ask for current document-tracking artifacts.

Idea scorecard

Score 1 to 5. Add notes; the notes matter more than the score.

Criterion	Score	Notes
Pain intensity		How costly or urgent is the problem?
Frequency		How often does it happen?
Buyer access		Can the founder reach buyers repeatedly?
Willingness to pay		Is there budget, spend, or serious commitment?
Founder-market fit		Does the founder have insight, access, or stamina here?
Market size		Can a large company emerge if the wedge works?
Competition gap		Why are alternatives insufficient?
Distribution path		How will the first 10, 100, and 1,000 customers come?
Defensibility		What gets stronger with time?

Decision:

• Total score:
• Strongest evidence:
• Weakest assumption:
• Next action:

Do not compare raw totals blindly. A high score with weak buyer access is still dangerous. A lower score with unusually strong founder access and urgent pain may be worth testing.

Problem hypothesis

Use this before interviews.

We believe [specific customer] experiences [specific problem] when [trigger]. Today they solve it by [workaround]. This causes [cost]. We will know the problem is real if [observable behavior].

Evidence to collect:

Evidence type	What to look for
Recent example	Customer can describe the last time it happened
Existing spend	They already pay money, time, people, or reputation
Workaround	They have hacked together a solution
Urgency	They want to fix it soon
Decision path	Buyer or influencer is identifiable

Assumption test plan

Turn the idea into tests before writing code.

Assumption	Current confidence	Test	Success signal	Deadline
Customer exists	Low / medium / high	Build list, ask for intros, contact target segment	10 qualified prospects found
Problem is painful	Low / medium / high	Customer interviews	5 recent examples with real cost
Current workaround is weak	Low / medium / high	Ask for artifacts/screenshots/process	Repeated workaround pattern
Buyer will act	Low / medium / high	Ask for pilot, data share, paid diagnostic, or next stakeholder intro	Concrete next step
Channel works	Low / medium / high	Test founder outbound, community, partner, content, or referrals	Reply/conversation rate from right people

The best first test usually exposes customer and problem risk together. For example, a founder should prefer 10 workflow interviews over a landing page if the customer language is still unclear.

Customer access test

Many ideas fail before product because the founder cannot repeatedly reach the right customer. Use this before spending weeks on decks, prototypes, or market maps.

Test	Good sign	Weak sign
List quality	You can name 50 specific people or companies in the segment.	The list is mostly categories like “SMEs”, “students”, or “doctors”.
Warm path	At least 10 prospects can be reached through believable introductions.	You depend only on cold messages to strangers.
Direct channel	You know where the customer already spends attention.	You are guessing channels from outside.
Founder credibility	Your background, network, or insight earns a reply.	Prospects do not understand why they should talk to you.
Repeatability	You can reach similar prospects every week.	Every meeting depends on one personal connection.

If access is weak, do not immediately kill the idea. First narrow the customer. “Indian exporters” may be too broad; “Rajkot engineering exporters selling to European buyers” may be reachable. “Schools” may be too broad; “budget private schools in Pune run by owner-principals” may produce a real list.

Access is not only a sales problem. It shapes the whole company. A founder with strong access can learn faster, sell earlier, recruit advisors, create proof, and avoid building in the dark.

Wedge definition

A strong startup idea usually starts with a wedge: a narrow entry point that lets the company win trust before expanding.

Wedge field	Notes
Narrow customer	The first exact segment.
Narrow problem	The specific painful workflow or job.
Trigger	The moment when the customer urgently cares.
Entry product	The smallest product or service that solves enough to earn trust.
Distribution path	How the first customers will hear from you.
Expansion path	What you can sell or build after trust exists.
Proof asset	Case study, workflow data, benchmark, savings, revenue lift, compliance outcome, or operational improvement.

Examples of weak wedges:

• “AI for SMBs”
• “Marketplace for services”
• “Productivity app for students”
• “Platform for manufacturers”

Examples of sharper wedges:

• “WhatsApp-first follow-up system for small clinics losing patient rebooking revenue”
• “Compliance document collection workflow for exporters preparing buyer audits”
• “Owner dashboard for coaching institutes to track counsellor follow-ups and fee collections”

The wedge should be small enough to learn quickly and important enough that customers will act.

Idea evidence ladder

Use this ladder to decide whether your evidence is improving.

Level	Evidence	What it proves
1	Founder has a personal hunch	Nothing yet, but it may be a starting point.
2	Prospects agree the problem exists	The language may resonate, but politeness is common.
3	Prospects describe recent painful incidents	The problem is real in memory.
4	Prospects show current artifacts or workarounds	The problem exists in workflow.
5	Prospects introduce other affected people	The problem is social or organizational, not isolated.
6	Prospects commit time, data, pilot access, or money	The problem is important enough to act on.
7	Prospects repeat usage or expand the use case	The idea may be moving from pain to habit.

Do not confuse a high-energy conversation with level 6 evidence. In India especially, people may be encouraging in a meeting and still not change behavior. Your job is to move from appreciation to action.

Market thesis

Field	Fill this
Market
Customer segment
Change creating opportunity
Existing alternatives
Why alternatives are weak
Initial wedge
Expansion path
Monetization logic
Main risk
Evidence needed next

India context notes

Add a short India note for every idea:

Question	Notes
Is the buyer formal or informal?	Owner-led, department-led, procurement-led, family-led, community-led, etc.
What trust path matters?	Referral, local proof, brand, compliance, founder credibility, partner, influencer.
What payment friction exists?	UPI/card, invoice, GST, PO, TDS, collections delay, cash-flow sensitivity.
What support expectation exists?	Self-serve, WhatsApp, phone, field support, onboarding, training.
Which geography/language changes adoption?	Metro, tier 2/3, Hindi/regional language, export market, global buyer.

This section is not for patriotic decoration. It should change product, pricing, distribution, or support decisions.

Founder-market fit worksheet

Question	Answer
Why do I care about this market?
What do I know that outsiders may miss?
Who can I access faster than most founders?
What unfair advantage might compound?
What part of this market will drain me?
What personal risk am I taking?
Can I work on this for 7 to 10 years?

Add a founder-market fit score:

Area	Strong	Medium	Weak
Lived experience	You have experienced the problem or worked very close to it.	You understand it through adjacent work.	You are attracted mainly by market size or trend.
Customer access	You can reach buyers/users weekly.	You can reach some through effort.	You do not know how to reach them.
Credibility	Prospects naturally trust your reason for being here.	You can earn credibility through proof.	You feel like an outsider with no bridge.
Learning speed	You can observe the workflow directly.	You can interview but not observe.	You depend mostly on online research.
Stamina	You care even when progress is slow.	Interest depends on traction.	You will lose energy if fundraising or hype fades.

Founder-market fit is not a moral judgment. It is a risk assessment. A weak score does not mean “do not build”; it means you must deliberately create access, credibility, and learning loops before betting heavily.

Startup risk map

Risk	Current belief	Evidence	Next test
Customer risk
Problem risk
Product risk
Channel risk
Revenue risk
Team risk
Market timing risk

Idea review memo

Write this memo after the first serious week of work and again after every major test.

Section	Prompt
Idea	One-line version.
Segment tested	Exact customer type, geography, size, role, or behavior.
What we believed	The original hypothesis.
What we learned	Evidence from conversations, artifacts, outreach, pilots, or payments.
Strongest signal	The clearest sign that the idea may work.
Weakest signal	The clearest sign that the idea may be wrong.
Changed belief	What is different now?
Next test	The next 3-7 day test.
Decision	Continue, narrow, change, pause, or kill.

Keep the memo short. A founder should be able to read it in five minutes and understand why the idea deserves more time or not.

Kill or continue rule

After one week of testing, choose:

Decision	Use when
Continue	Same segment, same pain, visible workaround, and real next steps repeat.
Narrow	Pain is strong only inside a smaller customer type, geography, budget, or workflow.
Change	The customer is real but the problem or buyer is different from the original idea.
Pause	Access is weak, urgency is unclear, or founder-market fit is not strong enough right now.
Kill	No repeated pain, no reachable buyer, no willingness to act, or no credible distribution path.

Killing an idea is not failure. It is saving founder life for a stronger problem.

One-week idea operating packet

Use this packet when an idea feels promising but still vague. The goal is not to prove the idea is brilliant. The goal is to convert excitement into evidence.

Day	Output	Founder action
Day 1	Problem hypothesis and customer segment	Write the painful situation, who has it, how often it happens, and why now.
Day 2	Prospect list and customer access test	List 30 reachable people or companies. Send the first 10 asks.
Day 3	Assumption test plan	Pick the riskiest assumption: pain, buyer, access, willingness to pay, data, regulation, delivery, or distribution.
Day 4	Five discovery conversations or artifact reviews	Ask for recent examples, workarounds, tools, spreadsheets, messages, or decision paths.
Day 5	Risk map and market thesis	Sort what is known, unknown, and dangerous. Note India-specific constraints.
Day 6	Evidence ladder and founder-market fit worksheet	Grade signals honestly. Do not count compliments as proof.
Day 7	Idea review memo and kill/continue rule	Decide continue, narrow, change, or stop. Define the next test.

The packet should leave behind a small evidence trail:

• A named segment
• At least 30 possible prospects
• 5 to 10 real conversations or artifact reviews
• The top three assumptions
• The strongest repeated pain
• The current workaround
• The buyer or budget path
• The next test

If one week produces no access to real customers, treat that as evidence. A good idea in an unreachable market is still hard to build from India unless you have another distribution path.

Idea evidence review meeting

Run this meeting alone or with co-founders after each idea sprint.

Topic	Strong answer	Weak answer
Customer	We can name and reach a specific group.	”Everyone has this problem.”
Pain	People described recent costly incidents.	People said the idea sounds useful.
Workaround	Customers already spend time, money, people, or reputation.	Customers are mildly annoyed but do nothing.
Buyer	We know who approves budget or behavior change.	We only spoke to friendly users.
Timing	Something makes the problem urgent now.	The market might need this someday.
Founder fit	We have insight, access, credibility, or stamina.	We like the market because it is trending.
Wedge	We know the first narrow use case.	We want to build a broad platform immediately.

Meeting decision:

Decision	Use when
Continue	Evidence is repeated, customer access is real, and the next test is obvious.
Narrow	Pain exists, but only in a smaller segment or sharper workflow.
Change	The customer reveals a different, stronger problem.
Park	Interesting but not urgent, reachable, or founder-fit right now.
Stop	No strong pain, no access, no buyer, or no credible wedge.

Write the decision in one sentence:

We will [continue/narrow/change/park/stop] because [evidence], and the next test is [test] by [date].

This prevents the idea from living forever as a half-believed possibility.

Copy-paste idea sprint worksheet

Use this worksheet when an idea is exciting but still too soft. Fill it in before building, naming, branding, or hiring for the idea.

Idea:

One-line customer:

Painful situation:

Why now:

Current workaround:

Who pays or changes behaviour:

How we can reach 30 prospects this week:

Founder-market fit:

Riskiest assumption:

Smallest test:

Stop signal:

Continue signal:

Then score the idea:

Question	Score 1-5	Evidence
Is the customer specific?
Is the pain recent and costly?
Is there a visible workaround?
Can we reach prospects without paid luck?
Does a buyer or behaviour-change owner exist?
Can we test it in 7 days?
Do we have a real reason to care for years?

Use this interpretation:

Score pattern	Decision
Mostly 4-5 with evidence	Run the 7-day discovery sprint.
High excitement, low access	Build access before building product.
Strong pain, unclear buyer	Run buyer discovery.
Strong market, weak founder fit	Find a sharper wedge or park it.
Mostly opinion, no evidence	Do not build yet.

The point is not to make the idea look good. The point is to make the next test obvious.

Idea Source Portfolio

Founders should know where their ideas are coming from. Different sources create different risks.

Idea source	Good signal	Common risk	First test
Personal pain	You lived the workflow and know the emotional cost.	You may be solving only your own edge case.	Find 10 similar people and ask for recent examples.
Customer conversations	Multiple people describe the same pain unprompted.	They may want a solution but not pay or change behavior.	Ask for current workaround, budget, and next step.
Services work	Clients repeatedly pay for similar manual work.	Product may not capture enough value without customization.	Extract the repeated workflow and package a narrow version.
Market change	Regulation, AI, infrastructure, platform shift, or behavior change creates timing.	Timing may be interesting but customer urgency may be weak.	Interview affected buyers about what changed this month.
Community signal	People complain, share hacks, or ask for recommendations repeatedly.	Vocal communities may not represent paying buyers.	Identify buyer, budget, and real switching behavior.
Competitor gap	Existing products are disliked or too expensive.	Complaints do not always create a winnable wedge.	Ask what customers still use despite complaints and why.
Founder network access	You can reach many buyers quickly.	Access may create friendly false positives.	Ask for concrete action: pilot, intro, data share, or payment.

Use a portfolio rule: do not commit heavily to an idea until it has at least two sources of evidence. For example, personal pain plus customer artifacts, or services revenue plus repeated buyer urgency. One source can start curiosity. Two sources begin a case.

Idea Parking Lot

Not every good idea deserves attention now. Keep a parking lot so you can say no without losing the learning.

Idea	Why interesting	Missing evidence	Revisit trigger
		Customer access / pain / buyer / timing / founder fit / channel	Date, intro, market change, customer request, or new proof

This protects founder focus. A parked idea is not dead; it is waiting for evidence strong enough to deserve founder life.

Pre-commitment checklist

Use this before buying a domain, building a prototype, announcing the idea, hiring, or raising around it.

Question	Evidence required
Can we name the exact first customer?	Segment, role, context, and reachable prospect list.
Do they have recent pain?	Specific examples from conversations or artifacts.
Is there a current workaround?	Spreadsheet, tool, person, agency, WhatsApp, manual process, or budget.
Can we reach them repeatedly?	Warm path, channel, community, outbound list, partner, or existing customer base.
Is there a buyer or behaviour-change owner?	Named role who can approve money, data, time, or workflow change.
What is the wedge?	Narrow problem, narrow customer, small entry product, expansion logic.
What is the stop signal?	Clear evidence that would make the founder pause or kill the idea.

If three or more answers are mostly opinions, do not commit yet. Run another evidence sprint.

Idea kill criteria

Write kill criteria before the founder becomes emotionally attached.

Risk	Kill or pause signal
Customer access	Fewer than 5 useful conversations after a serious outreach attempt to a specific segment.
Problem	Customers cannot describe recent examples or current workarounds.
Urgency	People agree it matters but will not spend time, data, reputation, or money.
Buyer	Users care, but no buyer or decision owner appears after targeted discovery.
Distribution	No credible path to the first 100 customers emerges.
Founder fit	Founder energy depends mostly on hype, investor interest, or trendiness.
Market	Wedge works only as custom services with no expansion path.

Kill criteria should not be used mechanically. They should force an honest conversation:

Are we continuing because evidence improved, or because we like the idea?

Sometimes the right decision is not kill; it is narrow. If one subsegment shows strong pain, keep that and discard the broad version.

Opportunity shape snapshot

Use this to compare two or three ideas without turning the decision into spreadsheet theatre.

Area	Idea A	Idea B	Idea C
Exact customer
Pain intensity
Frequency
Current workaround/spend
Buyer access
Trust path
First wedge
Expansion path
Founder-market fit
First 7-day test

Decision prompt:

The idea we should test first is [idea] because [evidence]. The idea we should park is [idea] because [missing evidence]. We will revisit it when [trigger].

This keeps the founder from working on three ideas emotionally while claiming to test one idea operationally.

Idea evidence compression

At the end of an idea sprint, compress the evidence into one page. This prevents the founder from confusing a pile of notes with a decision.

Use this format:

Idea:
Customer segment:
Pain:
Current workaround:
Trigger:
Buyer or behaviour-change owner:
Evidence collected:
Strongest positive signal:
Strongest negative signal:
Biggest unknown:
Next 7-day test:
Decision: continue / narrow / park / kill

Then score the evidence:

Evidence area	Strong signal	Weak signal	Current evidence
Customer access	Founder can reach 20-50 relevant people.	Access depends on random intros.
Pain	Customers describe recent painful examples.	Customers only agree abstractly.
Urgency	People spend time, money, reputation, or workflow change.	People say “interesting” and disappear.
Buyer	A named person can approve money or behaviour change.	User likes it but no buyer appears.
Wedge	Narrow first use case is clear.	Idea stays broad and inspirational.
Expansion	Adjacent use cases are logical after wedge proof.	Expansion depends on vague market size.
Founder fit	Founder has access, insight, stamina, or edge.	Founder is mainly following hype.

Make the decision boringly explicit:

We will continue only if the next 7-day test produces [specific evidence].
We will narrow if [specific subsegment] shows stronger pull.
We will park or kill the idea if [specific signal] does not appear.

Good ideas survive compression. Weak ideas become clearer when compressed too. Both outcomes are useful.

Related chapters

• 14. Finding Startup Ideas
• 16. Idea Validation
• 132. 7-Day Customer Discovery Playbook