Founders: how do you validate market demand before building?
I keep seeing founders (myself included, in the past) spend months building something nobody wants. We do "market research" that's basically just googling keywords and hoping for the best.
The problem is, companies don't post job ads saying "we're struggling with X problem." They say "need developer who can integrate Y with Z." The actual pain is hidden underneath the solution they think they need.
I built MPI to decode this. We scrape marketplace demand, use AI to extract the real pain points, and cluster them to find patterns. But I am curious:
How do you currently figure out if a problem is real before you build?
Do you talk to customers? Run ads? Scrape data? Or just go with your gut?
Would love to hear what's actually working for you.
What stood out to me is that you're trying to move validation away from opinions and into observed demand signals. Most founders over-index on conversations, but conversations are often filtered through how users describe their problem, not what they actually struggle with. If MPI consistently surfaces patterns from real marketplace behavior rather than stated intent, that’s a meaningful shift in how early-stage decisions get made.
Spot-on insight right there, Aryan. You hit the nail on the head.
That’s exactly the shift we are pushing for. Conversations are great for depth, but users are notoriously bad at diagnosing their own problems. They describe symptoms, not root causes, or worse, they tell you what you want to hear because they want to be polite.
When a company puts real money on the line by opening a budget and posting a marketplace demand signal, all filters disappear. It’s raw, unfiltered pain.
Out of curiosity: have you ever been burned by building something based on 'good validation conversations' that ended up turning into zero sales? How do you balance interviews vs. hard data today?
I've definitely seen that pattern, but I don't think interviews vs. hard data is actually the interesting decision.
Your reply made me think there's a bigger strategic decision sitting underneath that distinction, and it becomes much more important as MPI grows. I don't think I can explain the reasoning properly in a thread without oversimplifying it.
If you're interested, what's the best email to reach you on?
Yes Aryan. I'd love to continue this conversation.
What's the best email to reach you?
Absolutely.
You can reach me at:
[email protected]
Looking forward to the conversation.