Any business can work so long as we have gotten some form of MARKET VALIDATION.

Market validation is when the customers and the market at large tell us that this is a good product or service idea for the business.

This is a response I've given in the past when faced with a question on what to do with business ideas that are unachievable.

Whether a business idea is truly unachievable or not depends on what the market thinks.

When I say "the market" here I mean customers and possibly other stakeholders.

Some folks might start off saying that building a vegetarian business in Nigeria is unachievable.

They may have good reasons for thinking so since culturally we seem to be hedonistic meat eaters.

The idea of large scale hospitality businesses built around vegan or vegetarian themes in Nigeria might seem laughable!

However the only way we'll know this for sure is if we fail to get some form of market validation for the idea.

Market validation is usually gotten through SALES or TRACTION.

If you are able to make some sales (customer purchases), then that's a sign from the market that your idea is valuable and workable.

Even though it might seem like a silly idea to launch a vegetarian eatery in the heart of Abuja, if you're able to get some SALES on a smaller version of the idea, then the market (customers) are giving you signs that there's room to explore a more developed form of the idea.

Let's say BEFORE you launch the restaurant, you start cooking some vegetarian recipes and sell to some of your friends.

Some might buy because they are culturally sophisticated. Others might buy because they like the taste of vegan food. Some others might buy because of ethical reasons regarding the treatment of animals, and some may buy because of health benefits around blood pressure, cholesterol, and skin care.

Whatever the reason, if you approach 50 people and you're able to get 10 regular customers from them, then it might be a sign for bigger tests and better forms of validation.

The next step might be opening up an Instagram handle and running some sponsored ads to see how many total strangers might purchase!

If you make progress with the Instagram play, then maybe the idea has been sufficiently validated enough for you to try the restaurant idea!

So don't start off saying ANY business idea is unachievable until you have had a chance for business validation or traction.

So now that we know how SALES can be used as a tool to validate a business idea, what are we to make about TRACTION?

More on that in future posts...