Hypothesis Sheets: how to navigate and exit the idea maze with a (good) startup idea | Michael R. Bock
In 2020 when we were at the beginning of our startup journey I had a conversation with Erik Goldman where he shared this process, which we used to start Column Tax. I'll be forever grateful for Erik's time, and I thought it worthwhile to capture Erik's wisdom permanently online so others could benefit as much as I have.
Navigating the early startup idea maze and finding a (good) startup idea to work on is incredibly tough1. Having a process can help you a) find and validate a good startup idea and more importantly b) stay sane by feeling like you're making progress while doing it.
In this post, I'll explain a well-tested process for finding early Product<>Market Fit called "Hypothesis Sheets", why the process is useful, and how to follow it. This process works to validate startup ideas for venture-scale B2B companies. This process has led to many billions of dollars in market cap created. This post is geared toward starting a B2B company — if you're starting a B2C company2 I believe Hypothesis Sheets can help, but that's not my area of expertise — good luck 😂.
Companies are a series of hypotheses. Similar to the scientific method, successful founders are able to continually set the right hypotheses and prove/disprove them to move the business forward.
