Test Before You Launch: A No-Nonsense Guide for Nigerian Businesses

Today on the podcast, we're going to be looking at some ideas about how to test your products before you roll it out to the general market. Again, I repeat today we're going to be looking at how to test your product and make sure that it is fit for consumption, that everybody can use it. So test it before you roll it out. Now, the reason why is because I made a prior episode. Let me see OK, as at the date of this recording, I think I made it sometime last week.

And it was an episode where I was talking to people in the in the tech space in Nigeria, people who are rolling out tech, tech products about how you should first come up with a prototype or come up with an MVP. That's a minimum viable product. A minimum viable product is the smallest version of your idea, the smallest workable version of your idea so that people can see, people can taste, they can't touch, they can't smell,

they can't critique, they can't criticize. So that you will know that truly, truly before I send this thing out, let me change this. Let me change this, let me change that. Now, the reason why this is important is because for some kinds of products, if you just roll it out like that and in the market, they see that medicine is crap, you would damage your reputation. Seriously, people will look at you and say this boy is useless.

They'll say this babe, you know, not in the idea as in she's fine, but nothing. So that's some things that before you roll it out, test it first. Be sure that this thing is working and in that podcast episode, what I said is this for those of you who are in the text space, because the text space you will normally you do your in house testing first. You know, you create your app, you check it yourself to be sure that the thing works.

You will give one or two of your friends who are quotas. You know, you test it, you say, ah, correct. I've designed something that is great. You know what, I start trying to collect big money from people. So what I said now first episode was this. I look because the person in in, in that particular episode, the person his target was in schools. I told her, look, this is what you do. First of all, you go and approach some schools.

You say, look, you know what, we're launching this thing and we're doing it in beta mode. So you guys can do it for free or for a small fee. And we're going to limit it to, you know, 150 students per class. And we're going to limit it to, you know, 30 days, you know, 15 days, 45 days, whatever. But the whole point was this, you have created your app, you've created your website, created your product in house. You don't test them.

You can see that it works, but how do you know that? The moment you unleash 150 students on it, how do you know that thing will not break down? Right now you don't know. So do beta launch first stress test this thing, know the limits of this thing. Iron out all the rings, the bugs that are there, debug them. The problem that is there fix them. It is. Then you can now say, oh, you know what, we've rolled out this product.

You know, meats also standard this that that that that we can guarantee you guarantee you that I pay me millions. Then you can confidently tell somebody pay me millions because you know that this thing works. You can't know that if all you've been doing is in house testing. So the reason why I'm making today's episode is this. There's a listener of the show, Elam. Elam, thank you very much for commenting on the podcast.

By the way, I thought comments were supposed to disappear on the 3rd of September and this is currently the 14th of September. And I'm surprised that some people can still comment on Spotify. Now the problem is this. I can see your comments, but unlike before, before, I can't respond to your comments. I can't reply on Spotify. So for those of you who see the commenting options available on Spotify, keep on commenting.

What I'll do is I'll just come up here and then I'll make an audio response since I can't type and respond to you guys in the past like I did. But just so you know what Spotify told us, Shah, we podcasters, at least in Niger was that commenting on Spotify is going away on September 3rd. Of course, that time don't pass. So I give my phone number in every episode. If you'd love to connect questions, comments, queries, the phone number is 08064662140.

Send a text message, send a WhatsApp message, you know, I always respond. And then of course, YouTube, now that's 2D, you can comment there and I will see them. So any Elam, Elam, thank you very much for contact, for commenting. Now Elam says that he's a fan or she, I'm not sure because the only Ilems I know are Ilemona. So and the only Ilemona I know is a guy. So that's why I'm assuming is, you know, Ilem is a guy. So he says he's a fan of in house testing.

And of course you're a fan of in house testing. Believe me, everybody's a fan of in house testing because in house testing is fun and in house testing always works. I come with an idea and I go and talk to my brother and my brother says, ah, that's a good idea, good idea. I talked to my wife, mom. We said, oh, it's a good idea, good idea. I'll talk to mom. See mom, she'll be like, ah, wonderful idea, my son, you're very, very smart.

That's in house testing. No, Abby, it always works is when you now go outside and you jump people in the field. You know that. OK, I didn't quite think of this aspect or I didn't quite think of that aspect. So trust me, Elam, everybody loves in house testing. Everyone. It's easy, it's good, it shows that your idea works. The problem with in house testing is it doesn't help you stress test your thing. Stress test just means under what conditions will this thing breakdown?

How strong is this thing? What is the limit that we can push this thing to? You need to do that. It's not just for engineers who are building bridges to stress test and see that OK, what is the maximum load before this bridge breaks or people who make cars now, what are the maximum conditions under which this car will not fall apart? It is for those of us too, who are doing businesses and our business is not a matter of life and death.

We still need to test. So for that guy who is doing an app in education space, you need to know what is the limit. Can you handle 150 customers confidently? Not in there. But if you try to upload 950 customers, is that when the thing will break down? Or is it that at 950 students on the app the thing will function fine but the moment you hit 1223 the thing will start to break down? You need to know for some things it's the other way around, that if you load up 900 users, the thing will work fine, but then if it drops below 26 users, they think we're going to be informed.

So you need to know. Those of you in the tech space, in house testing is not going to tell you these things. You will only know the realistic expectations, the realistic limits for this, your app, your website, your whatever, how your product is going to work in the real world. When you follow this simple formula or follow this simple philosophy of I have made the thing. Now before I go and collect big money, I need to be sure this thing works.

If I leave it to my own simple tests and the tests of my friends and my family and, you know, my professional colleagues, of course we will say the thing works. But it's when we go outside and I'll try and get some feedback from the market, real life, that we'll know for sure whether this thing is a hit or whether this thing is a dud. So in house testing, Elam, Yeah, you're a fan, which I'm a fan of in house testing. I've just found that by the time I go outside and my ideas receive real world contact 1212

by time customers give me buzz boost, I now know that Oh, OK, this thing I didn't really think this thing too well. Now let me give you an example. Let me use my photography days so you see that it applies any which way. So early on now when I started taking photos in Scotland, I was a genius Abby. I was a weed, I was a weed, I was an artist. I got skills Abby. I show up with a camera. I'm taking pictures of my children is all good.

Pictures of my girlfriend is all good. My brother and his children is all good. Birthday party, You know how students are celebrating party. I'll just come by camera. Tavishima don't show. You know, it was all good. I was a * I was a superstar. That one is in house testing. I want to do this photography thing, so I do in house testing. My girlfriend, my brother's wife, my brother's children, my friends, people in the same dorm, people in my class, you know, that's in house testing.

Everybody says you're a correct guy. The thing works. I'll be on till I go back to Nigeria and I say let me try my hand one time, just one small time. My cousin's wedding. This is not a full playing client. This one is my cousin. That is when my eyes were opened when I shot my cousin's wedding in Makudi. It was then I realized like, oh, is this what photography is about? First of all, we drive to Makudi. We drive down.

It's not that long and it's just a four hour drive. We drive down or trust me, as a wedding photographer, wedding photographer, you'll be driving plenty, at least until you make good money and then you can hire a driver or buy a bus. By the beginning, there's plenty of driving. So you're in Lagos, you start off in Lagos, somebody's paying you good money. This thing is in a Korea. How you get to a Korea? He's driving shiny, driving down to my goodie.

Then timelines and expectations. People want to know what, when, how, you know, when I was shooting, just casual girlfriend, brother's wife, kids, friends, you know, that kind of thing. You know, nobody has given you money, so they leave it to you. It's on your own schedule. So when you're done, you're done. Nobody, nobody would distress you anyhow. But my cousins were Dean, you know, people are not asking you a question.

You know the in laws are asking you like, oh, when would the photos be ready? Like listen, I'm doing it for free now. Why do you are giving me expectations, asking me a question? So just written my cousin's wedding, a real world contact, real life contact people give you bass boost. What is the timeline? What are we expecting? What are you delivering? When are you delivering? That was my first glimpse into the world of professional photography.

What is demanded of a professional photographer? I mind you, like I said, that was even my cousin. Oh, that was not even total stranger. So you see the difference between in house testing? You just try it out yourself. You ask your close colleagues, He asked your close friends how far will this thing? Does this thing work? What do you think? Is it looking good? In house testing is sweet and in house testing always works.

By the time you receive small bus boots from the market, you will know that. OK, I didn't quite think of this. I didn't quite think of that. I need to recalibrate this, you know, I need to set expectations here differently. In house testing, to be honest, there's nothing on the line. So in house testing is very smooth, very fun. Go and face the reward small like I said, whether for free or for a fee. This one was my cousin.

I was doing this thing for free, but sure, he opened up my eyes like OK, when I start doing this thing and when I start collecting money, these are the things I need to look forward to. These are the things that I need to plan for. These are the questions that I need to have answers ready for. This is how I should organise my workflow or change my workflow or change this or do this. So Elaine, I agree with you. You're a fan of in house testing.

Yes, I'm a fan of in house testing too. In house testing is fun, but real world scenarios are not always fun. And that is the point of doing this sort of thing of coming up with MVP first or coming up with prototype 1st and then testing it in the real world before you collect money because some of you and see well LinkedIn. So let's not I want warm blogs now on social media. Let's not pretend that these things it happens all the time every month.

We're hearing it. So, so, so and so went to go and raise 10 million U.S. dollars dollars or for this idea decided this idea. Next thing in six months you will hear so, so, so and so start up winding down returning $2,000,000 to to investors. We see this thing all the time. And then your mind, you're wondering, ah, isn't all these people that raised 10 million in January, June, July already they're winding up the only returning 2 million, $8 million.

Where, where did that thing go? Some of you in the tech space, you will get caught up with all these sweet ideas and you are not testing things through, you wouldn't have plans for taking these your ideas and subjecting you to real world, real market conditions. You just think this is a good idea. This is a good idea. You go and raise plenty of money and then like that you damage your reputation. Then on LinkedIn, people will now be dragging your reputation up and down.

On Twitter, they'll be dragging your reputation left and right. We see it all the time. This thing happens every single month. In house testing is not OK. I have shown you that when it comes to artistic things like photography, in house testing is not OK and we definitely is not OK for those of you who are in the tech space. And that is the benefit of, you know, Zox, Mark Zuckerberg, then that's the benefit of how you know, you are rolling out their stuff.

In the old days. You make this thing. Everybody in my class likes it. You know what? Everybody in your class, everybody in the in the dorm they like is you on board? Everybody. Before I knew it, the whole uni is using it. But then you're running a small, small, small open up to this other uni because I felt was universities open to this uni, open to this uni. That's the whole thing. You start your thing in Unilac, you do like people like it open it to last protect, last protect like it open it to lasso, lasso like it open it to owe you small, small, small.

With a test time like that, like that, like that, stress testing the thing. Then by the time you go and meet investors, you cannot start talking big grammar. This is my app and this is my idea. This is the performance. These are parameters. This is the level of traction we have. We've gone from here to here to here to here to here. Then people would like, OK, this guy is correct, this baby is correct. And they can drop money and you won't your reputation because when they drop money, your thing won't go out.

Fumble Who say that they have bet on the right horse. They bet on the right person. So my brother Elam or my sister, in case you're Elam owner as well and you're female or, you know, whatever Elam your own is. So my sister, yeah. In house testing. You're a fan of it? I'm a fan of it too. I've just found that it's not very practical if you want to grow a big business at the end of the day. So please, you don't have to follow the exactly how I said.

We need to come up with a way of saying that, OK, this is my idea. How far can I push it before it breaks? Then run that test first before you start charging big money for your product or for your service. It's for your own protection. Protect your own reputation because you, you mean well. But if you don't stress test this thing and you roll it out, by the time you think F up, it is your own reputation to be dragging up and down.

You'll be there to defend yourself, to say I meant well or I tested it before I wrote it out. And in my test, everything works. You will not be there. What they will just say is that Elaine, her mouth's too sharp or the boy likes to run faster than his shadow. This is what the guy did to me. So anyway, that's it. So it's not like I'm trying to insult you, Elaine more. I'm just, you know, I see your comment and I love that you listen to the podcast and I love that, you know, you have a take on things that I've said.

I really, really love it. I just don't want anybody who listens to this podcast to go and injure themselves. So that's the reason why I'm making this podcast. But thanks for listening. Thanks for commenting again. If you'd love to connect, the number is 08064662140. Thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you at the next episode. And remember, even though you are leaving a comment now, please just know that I can see it.

I just can't respond to it. You know, Spotify has done their thing. Yeah. So I'll try and make episodes like this where I respond to people's comments, but then you hit me up on WhatsApp or if you comment on YouTube, yeah, I'll be able to respond directly there. So I'll catch you on the next episode.