Around 60% of new businesses in the UK do not make it past their third year. That is not a scare statistic. It is a starting point.

The most common reason businesses fail is not bad timing, bad luck, or bad execution. It is this: nobody wanted what they were selling. The British Business Bank and independent research consistently point to the same finding — roughly one in three early-stage businesses collapse because the founder never properly tested whether their product or service met a real need.

A market stall will not guarantee your business succeeds. But it will tell you, fast and cheaply, whether you are building something people actually want. And that is worth more than any business plan.

The most expensive thing you can do is guess

Most founders begin with an idea they believe in. That belief is essential. But belief is not evidence.

Think about what it costs to test an idea the traditional way. A pop-up shop in South London can run to hundreds of pounds a day. A paid social media campaign takes weeks to optimise and money to run. A website, branding, and packaging can cost thousands before a single customer has seen your product.

A market stall at Thrive costs a fraction of that. For a few pounds and a Saturday, you are in front of real people, in real time, with your actual product. You find out immediately whether your pricing holds, whether your packaging communicates what you think it does, and whether the people you imagined as your customers are the ones actually stopping to look.

The market does not tell you what you want to hear. It tells you what you need to know.

That is not comfortable. It is valuable.

What a market teaches you that no survey can

There is a specific kind of data you only get face to face.

When someone picks up your product and puts it back, that is information. When they ask if you do a different size, a different colour, or a different price point, that is a product development session you did not have to pay for. When someone buys immediately and comes back the following week with a friend, that is your strongest possible signal.

Online surveys and focus groups have their place. But they ask people what they think they would do. A market shows you what they actually do.

You also learn things that are harder to quantify. How to talk about your product. Which words make people stop. What questions come up again and again. How your display affects whether people approach or walk past. None of this is in a spreadsheet. All of it shapes a better business.

Real trading. Real learning. Real community.

Thrive Market runs twice a month at Surrey Quays Shopping Centre in SE16. It is built specifically for early-stage founders — people who are testing ideas, building confidence, and learning what it means to trade.

More than 20 business owners now trade regularly through Thrive, and there is a waiting list. That is not because it is an easy option. It is because it works. Founders who trade at Thrive come back not just because they sell, but because they learn. They adjust their products, refine their prices, find their first loyal customers, and build the kind of confidence that comes only from doing the real thing.

The market also puts you in a room with other founders at exactly the same stage. The conversations that happen between stalls, over a coffee before opening, or while packing down at the end of the day are part of the education too.

How this fits into your Founders Pathway

March is Step 3 of the Founders Pathway: testing your idea. And testing is exactly what it sounds like. Not perfecting. Not launching. Testing.

The Founders Pathway is designed to build on itself. In January, you worked on clarity — understanding what your business actually is and what problem it solves. In February, you got the structure in place: the basics of tax, admin, and setup. March is where you take that groundwork and put it in front of real people.

Testing at this stage protects you. It means you do not spend six months building something only to discover the market does not exist. It means you arrive at April — when we turn to pricing and money confidence — with real evidence about what customers will pay, not just what you hope they will.

Every step in the pathway is connected. What you learn at a market in March shapes how you price in April, how you market in May, and how you build relationships in June. The pathway is cumulative, and the market is one of the most efficient ways to move through it.

How to get the most out of your first market

Go with a goal, not just a target. Decide in advance what you want to learn. Is it whether your price is right? Whether people understand what your product does? Which items get the most attention? A clear question makes every interaction more useful.

Talk to people. Ask open questions. ‘What made you stop?’ and ‘What would make this work better for you?’ are worth more than ‘Do you like it?’

Track everything. Write down the questions people ask. Note which products get picked up and put back. Count how many people stop versus how many buy. That ratio tells you something important about your pitch, your display, or your price.

Do not be discouraged by a quiet day. One quiet market is data. It tells you something about your display, your location, or the weather. It does not tell you your idea is wrong. Come back, adjust one thing, and see what changes.

The businesses you admire started somewhere small

Some of the most recognisable independent brands in South London began on a market stall. Not because the market was the end goal, but because it was the place where the idea became real.

It is where founders discover what their business actually is — which is often slightly different from what they thought it was when they started. It is where the first loyal customers come from. It is where confidence is built, not assumed.

You do not need to be ready. You need to be willing to learn. The market will do the rest.

Ready to test your idea?

Applications for a stall at Thrive Market are open now. Spaces are limited and fill quickly. If you are ready to take Step 3 of your Founders Pathway, this is where to start.

Apply for a stall at Thrive Market: Here 

Not ready to trade yet? Come and visit first. See what it looks like, talk to founders who are trading, and get a feel for what is possible. Email us at info@treeshepherd.org.uk and we will tell you more.