Rapid Experiment
Test your riskiest assumption before you build anything.
Every business model is a stack of assumptions. Some are high-risk: if wrong, they kill the idea. Others are low-risk: wrong or right, the idea survives. A Rapid Experiment targets the highest-risk assumption and tests it as cheaply as possible — before you build, before you fundraise, before you commit. The goal is not proof. The goal is evidence.
How to run this
- List 5–8 assumptions embedded in your idea.
- Score each on Confidence (how sure are you?) and Consequence (how fatal if wrong?).
- Target the assumption with lowest Confidence × highest Consequence.
- Design the cheapest experiment that would give you real evidence.
- Set your pass/fail threshold before you run it.
Rapid Experiment
Eric Ries · The Lean Startup · 2011 · Javelin Experiment BoardDesigning experiments that can only confirm. A test that can't fail is not a test — it's theatre. Your success metric must be set before you see the data.
An experiment that runs in under a week and costs under $500. If your minimum viable test takes 3 months, you're not testing an assumption — you're building a product.
When you've run the experiment, read the data honestly, and can say whether the assumption held or broke — and what you'll do differently as a result.
Try it interactively with WAiDE
WAiDE will help you surface your assumptions, rank them by risk, and design the cheapest possible test. You'll leave with an experiment you can run this week and a session report.