# Objectives
- Validate Assumptions
- Hyper-focused "killer feature"

## Validate Assumptions
- It's difficult to formulate a playbook / plan from business idea with a high likelihood of success.
- It's difficult to execute even ***with*** a playbook.
- It's difficult to adapt strategy in realtime to changing priorities & externals.

### Planning
> "What do I need to do?"

It's difficult to formulate a playbook / plan from business idea with a high likelihood of success.

> [!tip] Smells
> *- "Feels like we're stumbling."*
> *- "I'm not sure anyone even would buy this."*
> *- "We're not sure what our go-to-market looks like right now."*
> *- "We've been trying to find angels but they keep turning us down."*
> *- "I'm not sure where to start."*

### Execution
> "How do I do it?"

It's difficult to execute even ***with*** a playbook.

> [!tip] Smells
> *- "We've been building an MVP for months."*
> *- "We don't have any marketing yet."*
> *- "Why would we have customers? We don't even have a product yet."*
> *- "We don't want to release yet; it needs to be perfect."*

### Confidence
> "Am I really the person to do this?"

It's hard to remember that none of us really have any idea what the fuck we're doing.

> [!tip] Smells
> *- "I don't think we're fundable."*
> *- "I'm not confident that this will work out."*
> *- "I'm afraid to talk to users."*
> *- "I'm afraid to reach out to VCs."*

### Adaptation
> "What's the highest priority thing to do right now?"

It's difficult to adapt strategy in realtime to changing priorities & externals.

> [!tip] Smells
> *- "We don't really have any metrics we're tracking."*
> *- "We haven't talked to any users yet."*
> *- "We're not sure how to source potential users to interview."*

## Hyper-focused "killer feature"
Right now CORE's product vision feels a bit like trying to boil the ocean. If we can nail down a specific high value pain point felt by early stage founders and solve it better than anything else, we can get market break-in and customers quickly.

# Method
## Setting
- Send polls in spaces rich with ICPs
- 1:1 meetings
- Surveys
- Cold outreach / public presence
- Undercover @ meetups
## Example
#### Us
Hey! I heard you're building a startup. Tell me about it!
#### Them
Hi, I’m Brian, co-founder of a very scrappy SaaS startup called Handoverly. We’re building a platform to streamline the transfer of knowledge when employees leave a company or change roles. Honestly, some days it feels like we’re crushing it, and other days I’m Googling “what do startups even do.” So, yeah, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned (or haven’t figured out yet). What’s on your mind?
> [!hint]
> Smells like **Planning** assumption. Ask about strategy.
#### Us
How did you decide what to build? What's the strategy (if there is one, okay if there isn't) to getting to funding? revenue?
#### Them
Deciding what to build was kind of messy. Sasha and I worked together at the marketing agency, and ... one day we thought, "Wait, why isn’t there something better for this?"

We don’t have a big, polished strategy for funding. We’re bootstrapped, partly because we don’t know if we’re fundable yet. The plan is to get some validation first—enough users and feedback to show we’re solving a real problem. Then we’ll decide if we need to raise, and if so, who we’d pitch to—probably angels or early-stage VCs who don’t mind pre-revenue companies.
> [!hint]
> Smells like **Confidence** assumption.

Revenue is trickier. Our beta users aren’t paying yet because we wanted their feedback first. Our current idea is a freemium model—individuals and small teams get a basic plan for free, but larger teams pay for features like analytics, integrations, or customization. Honestly, though, we don’t know if that’s the right pricing model. We’re still figuring out what people value enough to pay for.

#### Us
What part of building this has the most unknowns?

#### Them
Oh man, where do I start? There are so many unknowns, but I think the biggest ones right now are:
1. Do people really _care_ enough to pay for this?
2. How do we find our ideal customers?
3. What should the product actually do?
4. How do we make this viral (or at least self-sustaining)?
5. Can we actually raise money?