Coming up with a great idea for a business is exciting, but making sure that idea will really work in the market is another story. Many startups fail because they spend too much time and money building products nobody ends up wanting. That’s where pretotyping comes in — a fast, low-cost way to test if your idea is even worth building. Let’s explore what pretotyping is, how it’s different from prototyping, what techniques you can use, and real-world stories of how it has worked for successful companies.
What Is Pretotyping and Why It Matters
Pretotyping is the process of testing an idea before building it for real. It’s a way to see if people are interested in your concept before spending time, money, or resources making a full product. While prototyping focuses on how something will work, pretotyping tests if it should be built in the first place.
This idea was popularized by Alberto Savoia, a former Google engineer, who coined the term “pretotype.” His motto is, “Make sure you’re building the right ‘it’ before you build it right.” Pretotyping is all about validating the market need and user behavior early, using simple, clever experiments.
How Pretotyping Differs From Prototyping
It’s easy to confuse pretotyping with prototyping, but they serve different purposes. A prototype is a working version of your product. It shows how it functions, looks, and feels. A pretotype, on the other hand, might not work at all — it just mimics the idea to test if people are interested.
For example, if you’re thinking of developing a new type of fitness app, a prototype might include a working interface, tracking features, and real functionality. A pretotype could be just a simple web page explaining the app and asking visitors to sign up — testing if people even care about the idea.
Pretotyping focuses on testing assumptions and behaviors quickly and with little investment. It helps prevent the common mistake of building something nobody needs just because it was easy or exciting to make.
Benefits of Pretotyping for Startups
Pretotyping offers several key benefits for early-stage startups:
- Faster validation: You can test ideas in days instead of months.
- Lower cost: Experiments can be run with little or no budget.
- Real feedback: You learn what actual users think and do, not just what they say.
- Increased focus: You can test multiple ideas quickly and focus on the ones that show potential.
- Fail smart: It’s okay to fail — but fail early and learn, rather than after a long, expensive development process.
In short, pretotyping helps startups build smarter, not harder.
Popular Pretotyping Techniques and Tools
A range of techniques can help startups pretotype effectively. Here are some popular methods:
The Fake Door Test
This method involves setting up a webpage or app button that offers access to a feature or product that doesn’t exist yet. When users click, they either see a “coming soon” message or get invited to sign up for updates. This reveals what users are interested in, even before anything is built.
The Mechanical Turk
Instead of building automated systems, you perform tasks manually behind the scenes. For example, Zappos founder Nick Swinmurn started by taking photos of shoes at local stores and listing them online. He only bought the shoes after someone placed an order. He proved people were willing to buy shoes online without building a warehouse or inventory system.
The YouTube MVP
You can create a simple video that explains your idea and see how people respond. Dropbox famously used a short video explaining its file-sharing concept before the product was ready. Thousands of people signed up, validating the idea early on.
Pretend to Own
If you’re thinking about launching something like a car-sharing business, you might rent a car short-term and offer rides to potential customers as a test. You’re not buying a fleet; you’re simulating the experience to gather insights.
Landing Page Test
This is one of the easiest methods. Create a simple site explaining your idea, adding calls-to-action like “Sign up” or “Buy now.” Track how many visitors show interest. This method can help you measure demand quickly.
Case Studies: Pretotyping in Action
Many companies have used pretotyping to test and validate their product ideas early. Here are three inspiring examples:
Zappos
Before Zappos became a billion-dollar company, its founder tested whether people would buy shoes online. He visited local stores, took photos of shoes, and posted them online. When someone made a purchase, he went back to buy the shoes and shipped them personally. This experiment showed that customers were comfortable shopping for shoes without trying them on first.
Dropbox
Drew Houston, the founder of Dropbox, used pretotyping to explain how the app would work through a short demo video. The video showed how easy it was to store and share files, even though the product was not yet available. The idea gained 75,000 sign-ups overnight. This confirmed market interest and helped attract investors.
Palm Pilot
Before the Palm Pilot (a personal digital assistant) was developed, the creator Jeff Hawkins carried around a block of wood shaped like the device. He pretended to write appointments on it to see how often he’d use it and in what ways. This helped refine the idea and confirmed that such a device would be useful for busy professionals.
Conclusion: Pretotyping Is a Startup Superpower
Pretotyping is a powerful tool for any entrepreneur with a new idea. It helps you answer the most important question: “Should we build this?” before worrying about “How should we build it?” By using simple experiments, startups can avoid wasting resources and increase their chances of market success. Whether you’re making software, hardware, or even a service, pretotyping can help make sure your idea is something people actually want. It’s fast, cheap, and effective — every startup should use it.
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