When you first had the idea for your startup, what were the very first steps you took to explore its viability? What did the initial phase look like? UpwardEco Ltd. was born out of the challenges we noticed during our volunteering engagements. The pain of wanting to help the environment but facing bottlenecks in taking action was undeniable. Imagine educating people on recycling but realizing there’s no infrastructure to support waste segregation at the household level. That pain fueled our determination. After two years of advocacy, constant effort, and feedback, we decided to push the project forward.
Negative feedback or rejection can be tough, especially when you're emotionally invested in an idea. How did you handle negative feedback during your validation process? Negative feedback, to me, is an opportunity to improve. Someone who doesn’t want you to succeed won’t bother to tell you the truth. So, I took every criticism as a chance to refine our approach. Once you’ve conducted your research and gathered feedback, how do you measure the success of your validation efforts? What key metrics do you track? It’s all about the numbers: how many people are willing to do business with us and, more importantly, how many are paying customers. Interest is one thing, but actual demand is shown through completed transactions. How did you differentiate between mere interest and real demand for your solution? It’s simple—the ones who complete the transaction are the real demand. The secret is knowing your potential audience and continuously finding better ways to reach them. You can’t be perfect, but you can adapt. Was there a method you used to identify your target audience? Muhammed: Yes, we looked at metrics like location, economic class, and specific audience needs. For example, we target estates for our waste evacuation services. Convincing estate management often leads to widespread adoption among residents. How did you address the problem of waste segregation at the household level? Muhammed: We offer waste recovery for households and businesses through a pay-as-you-throw model, where users pay based on the weight of waste evacuated monthly. For those who join our segregation program, we provide cashback for every kilogram of recyclables recovered. All data is recorded on our platform, SendWaste.com, making the process transparent and efficient. How did you determine if people were willing to pay for your service? Muhammed: Honestly, nobody wants to part with their money unless they perceive the product or service as better than what they currently have. Our focus was on demonstrating value, which ultimately led to willingness to pay. | 
