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Every entrepreneur eventually has an idea they swear is the next big thing. But here’s the truth: most startup ideas flop. It’s not because they weren’t good, but because nobody really needed them.
So what did they miss? Validation. Before you sink months (or even years…) into your idea, you need proof that people will pay for what you’re building.
Here’s what you need to ask.
The best products solve actual problems. If your idea doesn’t make people’s lives easier, better, or more enjoyable, it’s already in trouble.
Contrary to popular belief, competition is a good thing. It proves there’s demand. But you need to stand out.
Pro tip: If you have zero competition, ask yourself why. Either you’re onto something groundbreaking, or there’s no demand.
Before you invest heavily, test engagement. Do people care enough to sign up, follow, or talk about it?
Passion is great, but wallets decide success. You need proof that people will actually spend money.
I didn't validate my product idea with other people. Only with myself.
I was in dire need of an app that aggregates all data on the same page and couldn't find one that ticked all the boxes. I built it for myself and started to find more and more people who liked it. Let me call it reverse validation.
Conversatum was only validated by word-of-mouth. The main motivation has been that its something I personally have greatly needed for years now. But, I wouldn't recommend doing that, and I'll never start a company that way in the future.
If you have some business experience, here's how I generate new ones:
1. I try to find a problem that someone I know is experiencing. It shouldn't be insignificant and instead should be capable of inducing a motivating emotion like frustration, sadness, greed, fear (i.e. FOMO).
2. Once I understand the problem well, I check to see if there are existing solutions.
3. If there isn't an abundance of them, then I have a look at the size of the market, the monetary potential, and where the weaknesses of those existing solutions is through what users say (this can be done with a well-crafted form or by just talking to people 1 on 1).
4. If I find that the problem is unsolved or the existing solutions are weak, then I try to imagine what a better solution would be, and I may even ask the users I found before for input on their pain points.
Now you have an idea that's worth pursuing, and the next thing that you should do is build a successful prospective team, plan out a solution and timeline, and then acquire any resources that you'll need.
I'll keep my response short because we're still actively building and improving our service based business. Technically, there was some validation when we had an influx of clients at the beginning asking for the services we now provide. However it isn't like the typical 0->100 type of validation. We built at the same time as people started using us and to me that feels as if the validation happened before anything was built.
