From Idea to Slightly Less Vague Idea - in 24 Hours at zero cost - pt1

“1. Don’t marry the idea, date the problem first…(30mins - 1hr)

Nah remember don’t the date the version of who you think they are, you gotta get real with who they are right now (yep applies to your personal life as well, I share all types of wisdom here).

You have to ask yourself are you actually solving a real problem here? I know there’s a mix of you reading this so for the more advanced product folks, you’re probably more familiar with this and still serves as a reminder for your own side hustles.

But if you want to pick out the flags are you:

Green flag:
You’re obsessed with fixing something annoying.

Red flag:
You’re obsessed with your idea’s logo, name, and aesthetic, and no one asked for it yet.

The product will change, the pain has to be really identified. You then have to create value by solving the problem which is not always tech related. If you’re starting point is I want to build an app for this, STOP. Do the above first.

Tool to use: Chatgpt. Here’s a checked out prompt:

“I have a startup/product idea: [insert your idea here]. I want you to help me validate if this solves a real, painful problem. Ask me:

1. Who this is for (be specific)

2. What urgent or expensive problem it solves

3. If there are existing solutions (and why they suck)

4. If this is something people search for, rant about, or try to DIY
   Then, based on my answers, tell me:
   – Is this problem real and painful enough to be worth solving?
   – Is my idea solving the actual pain, or just adding features?”

Let’s say I run that prompt. Here’s what ChatGPT might dig out:

• Target: Solo indie founders who hate content planning and forget to post

• Pain: They waste 4 hours building ugly content calendars and still ghost their followers

• Current solution: Manual thinking, some chatgpt

• Rant factor: HIGH, people cry about “what do I even post” weekly

✅ ChatGPT verdict:
This is a real, emotional problem. It’s annoying, it’s common, and people will likely pay for a tool that doesn’t suck.

& then ask a minimum of 10 people. I pinged 10 people who are SME owners & the common theme is, ‘no idea what to create before I actually create in Canva’

2. Define the who (30mins)

Once ya done your validation, figure out exactly who it’s for. To the niche. e.g.

Helps solo founders & small business owners in content planning because they hate planning posts

Say it in one line (15-30 mins)

There’s been times when people have spent 5 mins describing what their business is and my adhd brain has switched off by that point. I then ask them to say it in one line. You need to give it a name and a quick tagline without faffing over branding so here’s what it is.

techteacontento - an ai content strategist for SMEs & solo founders

3. Build a basic solution by creating value first (6 - 8 hrs)

I say this with all my heart, do not start building unnecessary tech or design. You need to create value first & that is not always sexy & it doesn’t make you feel like you’re building the worlds next best startup.

So I wanted to get useful content ideas that SMEs will use & get it over to them first, so that actually yes it’s real enough for them. Then I can find a way to automate that. Solve it manually, build it in tech form.

Now you can use some hacky tools like notion etc. You’re not exactly using pen and paper (but you should be ready too)

I’m slightly techy so I created a custom gpt and then put that into specific word docs for that business and sent it to them. They are still working through those so I will report that at a later date.

I started with myself too but given my tech skills are more advanced, I created the Lovable app: https://techteacontenter.lovable.app/

Do you also understand what makes a good & a bad prompt? So here it is:

Okayish prompt but not really specific:
“Build me an automated content strategist so that when I use it, I can get the ideas I need and it tells me what I need to do on what platform and be able to track that”

A brilliant prompt:

I want to build an AI-powered content strategist called techteacontento. Its job is to help creators and founders generate content ideas, plan content across platforms (like LinkedIn, Threads, and newsletters), and track what to post and when.

Design the system behind this. Specifically:

1. What inputs does the user provide (e.g., audience, goals, tone, offers)?

2. How should the AI generate tailored content ideas across multiple platforms?

3. How should it recommend the right platform for each idea?

4. How can it help schedule or track progress (manually or through integrations)?

5. What would a weekly content workflow look like using this tool?

I’ll make a part 2 with results in another newsletter (bit long now init so let’s breathe) I will share how this performed with the SMEs…

Once you have created it, give yourself a week or 2 to research & test. The MOM test is a brilliant read. Found this free PDF of the whole book online too

2. Quick tech goss of the week…

Instead of the some of the obvious ones like Figma IPOd here are some interesting and useful things…

Project Lovable - A hackathon that’s live between Lovable & Project Europe. 

Proptech Jitty raises £2.8m. I love this, instead of just the location of the property, Jitty enables individuals to search for whatever is most important to them in a home. It uses LLMs to understand home descriptions & interpret floor plans etc. Currently got 100K users.

Hesta Health is so exciting. Two great female founders, Dr Sujitha Selvarajah & Amanda Cupples. They are building a platform to close the gender health gap, starting with postnatal care which is chaos.

3. Product gems that made me howl…

Leaving you with my fave gem for your thoughts…

& finally, am I even up to anything great for your nosy?

So lots of stuff.

1) Content experimentation - I’m keen to master this art. I’m actually great at producing but scaling is something I haven’t fully mastered. I will though.

2) I have some great coaching clients atm, so I’m happy to dedicate some time for people who want real change. Hit me up I have 2 slots left.

3) Consulting with SMEs & Startups. Working with a great client at the moment for a GTM strategy

4) Productology is coming back! Adil & I are working on bringing something exciting and on demand

5) Building my own Startup…not the content strategist but I will talk more about this soon. This is probably where the biggest pie is.