Introduction

Your start-up is fundamentally wrong! Isn’t it? This blog post is about the assumptions you made at the start-up’s definition phase. How important it is to test these assumptions as soon as possible?

Leap of faith assumptions

Leap of faith assumptions are the assumptions where a start-up is fundamentally based on. These assumptions therefore form the core. It is important to test these assumptions as soon as possible.

Why test ASAP

To validate whether the assumption is correct, it is important to test the leap of faith assumptions as soon as possible. This way you know if you are on the right track or whether you need to make adjustments to steer in the right direction.

If not:

• You’ll risk interpreting those assumptions as truth
• There is a higher chance of (internal) discussion about decisions that are not based on proven data
• Chances are that you are not fully confident of yourself, or you’ll risk losing confidence
• Chances are you will find out later

Especially the last point is very important. Finding out something at an early stage saves a lot of time and money.

How to test

First of all, it is important to define your leap of faith assumptions. What choices are based on gut feeling? What did you assume (to be true)?

Once you’ve defined the leap of faith assumptions, it’s time to test it through the BML loop.

However, it can be very difficult to define leap of faith assumptions clearly and testable. If you experience this, it is very important to split them into smaller assumptions. Smaller, less dependent assumptions are most valuable!

Conclusion

Almost every start-up is based on leap of faith assumptions. It is essential to test these assumptions as soon as possible. You do this by defining your leap of faith assumptions and testing them through the BML loop. This creates confidence and reduces waste of time, money and other resources.