Assessing Confidence

The Value of External Validation

Highlights:

• What is validated confidence?
• How do you gain validated confidence?
• Why does it matter?

We’ve all done it. We’ve had that great idea- the one that’s so amazing, it’s fail-safe, nothing can beat it, and everyone’s going to love it. We’re excited- very excited, and we’re telling our friends, our family, co-workers- maybe even random people.

It’s easy to get caught up in that excitement. And guess what? Most of the people we share our idea with will tell us that it is, indeed, an amazing idea. They are our friends, family, or co-workers. They might even be in the same or related fields as us professionally, and they “get it,” we think.

Does that mean our idea really is genius, and users are going to line up around the block to buy or use it?

Probably not.

That doesn’t mean your idea is bad. On the contrary, your idea might be phenomenal. It might also be mediocre, or it might be terrible. You don’t really know yet- and that’s the point. You need external input to help shape and refine your initial spark. A ‘confidence meter’ can help. (Adapted from Itamar Gilad: High-Impact Product Management)