How can an entrepreneur find out if a product will sell?

I'd like to paint a quick picture before I get to my question. I've been brain storming about multiple start-ups and most of them are product based which posses a huge problem for me because I'm moving into a dorm in three weeks. I had an awesome beer pong idea that Australian Investor and a few others helped me with, but I'm probably going to have to put it on hold because of my living situation.

The beer pong idea did help me develop the theory that intangible (online) products that you can download would be a great fit for me. Now for the second part of the story.

I'm a drummer and I listen to mostly rock music from the '60s to '90s. My friends are HUGE rap guys but I never really understood it until a couple weeks ago when they popped in a mix of songs from guys like Kanye West. Some of the songs were actually pretty good, but they all had individual beats like a rock song. The thing I noticed is that rap beats are even more diversified because you can use so many different sounds whereas rock is confined to a basic acoustic sounding drum set.

For the past week I've researched rap producers and beat making and it's an interesting business. If you type in "rap beats for sale" in google you'll find a long list of individual people selling their beats for prices from $5-$100 a beat. And this is where the entrepreneur in me got thinking:

There may be opportunity for a site like elance or ebay where rap producers can list their rap beats for sale and grass roots rappers can buy the beats. The producers would name their price and then my company would take a percentage of the exchange. There could be a section where rappers can post some of the things their looking for and then different producers can bid on the project and supply them a beat. It would kind of be a cross between ebay and elance for hip hop music.

But here is my question: there are plenty of people selling their rap beats online. But how do I know that this type of site would be in demand? I'm not a rapper nor do I know any rappers, but it seems to me that if there is demand this site would be profitable because it's helping out both the producer and the rapper.

Thank you!

If there are people selling and people buying, there is demand for aggregation.

Well, you have already found it. You did do a google search and you did find these people selling those beats. Ask those people directly if they would see your idea as valid one. Mission accomplished. Then let them spread the word around and then sign them all up on paper before doing any website registration or webdesign. Try to get 100+ beat sellers on board on paper to prove the real demand.

Also find some advertisers so you can use the advertiser agreements for an overdraft account. So that you can fund the webdesign and the potential programming. And for hiring a webmaster to manage the site for you. Then let all of these beat sellers register an account on the site and let it grow by viral marketing at first and then do some regular marketing on the internet.

It doesn't have to be harder than that. Keep it simple.

Yeah I don't think my biggest problem is finding beat makers but instead the musicians who will buy the beats. I just sent about a dozen messages through myspace to different beat makers which doesn't seem like alot but I made all the message personalized so they would get back to me. I took your advice Fanocks and I actually just got back a reply:

"that would be good but you are gonna need a whole bunch of promotion because people are always skeptical about buying beats online"

The producer who sent me that is pretty popular but what he's saying is what I'm worried about. I know there are a bunch of people selling beats but how many are buying. I wish there was a way I could find out how profitable my competition is. I'm going to write a business plan and then I'll get back to everyone.

Trust me on this one: Do a small promotion test on adwords or something similar and see if you can catch any kind of interest. Use an advertising site or even your own Facebook profile to collect the interest (no need to have a website at this stage anyway).

This is one of the main problems with new startup entrepreneurs: They spend months writing a business plan for something that may or may not work (what a waste of time). Do small and clever promotions and you will find out in a couple of days if this will work or not.

YES! This is fantastic advice. I see so many of my friends/collegues spending months/years on a business plan before they have any idea if it will work.

Fanocks, this is gold. rep +++

I can't understand why they make simple subjects, complex ones. I mean, starting a new company is just about asking around and getting people to sign up on purchase agreements. Either people will do this voluntarily (signing the agreement) or the idea/project wasn't such a hit after all. A business plan can always come later on to entice investors (even though I, as an investor, seldom read them anyway others do see a value in it).

If the project does not sell itself, then a business plan will not do it either unless there is impressive names on the board of directors. If you are starting out as a new startup entrepreneur the chance of having Star members on your board of directors are slim to none. Therefor, skip the business plan and first focus on getting those purchase agreements signed. You will thank God you did.

If you go to: XL Results Foundation | Roger Hamilton's JOT Podcast

and listen to this file:

RHJOT34 - Enterprise Stage 1, Proven Concept

then you will get a glimpse of what you're first aim as a startup entrepreneur is. This stage is before you even write a business plan. You could also listen to the other stages listed on this audio list. There will come more stages in the future. In total there are 8 stages (that I personally believe in and follow).

All audios are free to listen too, of course. This is just to clarify what I mean in previous posts on this thread.

Thank you for your help Fanocks! I'll check out the audio clip right now, but as far as your AdWords idea I'd like to just clarify on the details. Should I pay for AdWords and drive traffic towards a blank domain that I own and then install Google Analytics to see what kind of turnout I get? Then after my small investment dries up I can see how many potential customers I had. I could make phrase something like "Rap Beats for Sale" on AdWords.

Is this what you had in mind or am I misunderstanding you?

No, no domain registration (not at this stage). Just register a free profile at Ecademy.com or Facebook (both are free). Create a profile where you present your idea and where people can email you to sign up on a purchase agreement.

You need to have them signed up so they have actually agreed to being part of this. Empty promises proves nothing. Many people make them, few commit.

So use Adwords to drive traffic to your Ecademy or Facebook profiles where people will read a text that explains the deal you had in mind, then let them know where they can reach you in order to have shot on signing that agreement of yours (by email or phone, whatever feels best for you as an initial contact). Have 100 retail customers on board and go ahead from there.

When you have customers commited it is so much easier getting others on board. You really want those orders on paper so that you can get banks onboard with over draft accounts and/or angel investors to put in some money in your venture (because they see that people are willing to pay for your business offering. They see there is a potential which, with the right operating team in place, can take this further).

Do a search on Adwords for Rap beats. It seems like a good idea to me.

Hey Fanocks, does AdWords charge anything? Sorry to get off topic.