How we saved $50,000 and months of development by validating first
UX Research Cost
Time to Validation
Development Costs Saved
Every founder dreams of being first-to-market with groundbreaking innovation. But how do you validate something that's never been done before? And more importantly, how do you know when to walk away - even if the technology works?
This is the story of Babban Kaya ("big load" in Hausa), a proposed voice-only, diesel discount app for Nigerian truck drivers. It's also a masterclass in lean validation that saved months of development time and thousands in potential waste.
The concept was compelling: offer diesel discounts to Nigerian truck drivers, similar to how executives earn air miles. The twist? It would be a voice-only interface, catering to a market where WhatsApp voice notes are the primary form of communication due to low literacy rates.
How do you validate a voice-only interface with users who can't read? Traditional UX research methods - like usability labs, prototype testing sessions, and guided interviews - simply wouldn't work.
The obvious alternative would have been embedding UX professionals in trucking communities for months. While this could work, it would cost tens of thousands of dollars and take months just to establish the necessary trust relationships.
We needed to validate both market size and diesel wholesale margins - in a market where this information isn't publicly available.
Instead of traditional methods or expensive field research, we took an unconventional approach: recruiting an intelligent truck driver as our researcher. This single decision proved transformative:
Rather than tackling these challenges sequentially, we ran parallel experiments:
This parallel approach meant we could fail faster if necessary, rather than investing months in one aspect before discovering a fatal flaw in another.
Within 6 months and just $300 in UX testing costs:
But here's the crucial part: Despite technical feasibility and user interest, the market size relative to available diesel margins made the business model unviable.
Total cost to reach this conclusion? $1,000.
When standard research methods don't fit your market, get creative. Our driver-researcher approach didn't just save money - it provided deeper insights than traditional methods could have achieved.
Don't wait to validate different aspects sequentially. Find ways to test multiple assumptions simultaneously.
The hardest part wasn't proving the technology could work - it was accepting that commercial viability wasn't there, despite the innovation's success.
As the potential "first-to-market" with a voice-only interface, walking away was tough. But good business decisions require separating emotional investment from market realities.
This case demonstrates why validation matters: It's not just about proving what works - it's about identifying what isn't worth building, before you invest significant resources.
Total potential savings? Conservatively:
Sometimes, the most valuable outcome isn't launching a successful product - it's avoiding an expensive failure.
Deep insights from designing a voice-first UX for Nigerian truck drivers, and implications for an AI-led future
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