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Discussion on: I'm Vivek Saraswat, investor in Dev Tools + Infra startups @ Mayfield and former product leader @ Docker/VMware/AWS. AMA!

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Ben Halpern •

First of all, great episode Vivek....

Infrastructure Investing with Vivek Saraswat Software Engineering Daily  
play pause Software Engineering Daily

(Coming at some point to DEV: Tagging users in industry podcast appearances they've made)

Anyway, what would your advice entrepreneurs in identifying trends in software adoption and validating ideas before devoting to projects which might not have a realistic path to adoption?

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Vivek Saraswat •

Hey Ben, sounds like a great feature to build =P

Really good question. I think there's two potential pieces of advice I can give here:

  • Market validation. Most people build first and then validate with users--the best entrepreneurs start by understanding market needs first. Identify the prototypical user and buyer who you think would most benefit from the project you are considering developing, and start surveying them on whether they actually would in fact use your project. There are tons of slack/discord channels, community forums, github repos, etc. where you can seek out users who have interests in specifics areas. From a commercial standpoint, reach out to mid-level leaders at companies to see if what you are building meets a strong pain point. This kind of need-finding can save you a lot of headache (and possible carpal tunnel syndrome) of building something nobody wants. If you haven't yet found that need, keep iterating.
  • Rapid prototyping and feedback. Once you have an idea of where to point the ship, build a rough MVP of the product, lock down some early users, and quickly get feedback from them on as to whether you are headed in the right direction. Course correct as necessary. And importantly, don't just talk to the people who use your product, talk to the people who chose NOT to use your product. You may not choose to prioritize everyone's input, but it is important to understand fundamentally what is working and what is not.