This workbook is designed to be written in. The exercises it contains are not academic — each one produces a specific output that either validates your business idea or reveals why it needs to change before you invest another dollar. Work through each exercise in sequence. Do not skip the ones that feel uncomfortable. Those are almost always the most important.
Before You Begin — The Founding Question
Write your answer to this question before reading further. Do not edit it. Do not filter it. Just write.
If you launched your business today — with the idea, the model, and the habits you currently have — would you be building an asset, or creating a job?
Return to this answer when you have completed the workbook. Most people write a different answer the second time.
Exercise 1 — The Real Problem
Most businesses are built around a product or service. The most valuable businesses are built around a problem. Before any other decision is made, you must be able to state the real problem your business solves — precisely, specifically, and in the words of the person who experiences it.
State the problem in one sentence
Not your solution. Not your product. The problem the customer has, in their language, not yours.
How painful is this problem?
Rate it 1 to 10 (1 = mild inconvenience, 10 = urgent, expensive, and unresolved). Below 6 is a warning sign. What evidence do you have for your rating?
What does this person currently do instead?
If your business did not exist, how would the problem be handled? This defines your real competition — and tells you what switching cost you need to overcome.
Exercise 2 — The Real Customer
You cannot validate a business without a specific customer. "SMEs" is not a customer. "Women aged 35–50" is not a customer. A customer is a specific human being with a specific problem, a specific reason to act, and a specific ability and willingness to pay. Describe yours.
| Question | Your Answer |
|---|---|
| What is this person's job title or life situation? | |
| What does their day look like when this problem is present? | |
| What have they already tried to solve it? | |
| What do they tell themselves about why it has not been solved yet? | |
| What would they tell a colleague about finding your solution? | |
| What is their realistic budget to solve this problem? |
Exercise 3 — The Validation Test
A business idea is not validated by a survey. It is validated by someone paying money — or making an unambiguous commitment to pay — for a specific solution to a specific problem. Everything else is market research. Complete this test before spending any meaningful amount of money on the business.
Name five real people who could be your first customers
Not "types" of people. Actual humans with names, with the problem you have described, who you can contact this week.
Contact all five. Describe the problem. Describe the solution. Ask for money.
Record what happens below. A "yes but later" is a no. A "I would definitely use that" is a no. A payment or a signed letter of intent is a yes.
Exercise 4 — The $10K Budget
Before spending anything, complete this budget. Every line must be justified by a validation outcome — not an assumption. If you cannot link a cost to a validated customer need, it does not belong in the budget yet.
| Category | Planned Spend | Justification (link to validated need) |
|---|---|---|
| Legal (registration, trademarks) | $ | |
| Brand (logo, basic identity) | $ | |
| Technology (minimum viable tools) | $ | |
| First product or service delivery | $ | |
| Marketing (first customers only) | $ | |
| Operations (minimum to deliver) | $ | |
| Contingency (10% of above) | $ | Contingency — not earmarked |
| Total | $ |
If the total exceeds $10,000, you are building before validating. Go back to Exercise 3.
Exercise 5 — The 90-Day Blueprint
The 90-day blueprint has three phases of 30 days each. Fill in the key actions for your specific business.
| Phase | Focus | Your Key Actions | Completion Signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1–30 | Validate and close first customer | First payment received | |
| Days 31–60 | Deliver, document, refine | Delivery system documented | |
| Days 61–90 | Systematise and begin IP building | First IP asset documented |
Exercise 6 — Your First IP Asset
Every business that survives 90 days has created intellectual property. Most founders do not recognise it. Your job in the final exercise is to name the first IP asset your business will deliberately create — and to document it before it lives only in your head.
Name the asset
What process, system, method, or piece of documented knowledge will your business own by day 90 that it does not own today?