I built a cool SaaS product that no one needed: The problem with early idea validation

Hi @BoredToDeath you're saying that there are no ways to get early feedback, but maybe it's the idea of getting "feedback" that led you astray?

I would highly recommend you read "The Mom Test". It's a very concise, practical guide that will help you to stop gathering feedback on your idea (because asking friends or non-paid customers for feedback on your idea will only get you "oh that's so cool" and zero intel), and instead gather intelligence on the needs of the market and the actual use cases.

I didn't know you had folded this project but I was browsing the IndieHacker Product list earlier today and found either your app or someone else's similar app.
And here's some input on how you could have validated it pre-MVP:

1. You're saying that nobody was doing async video communication, but that's inaccurate.
   a. Many many many people in the business world have the tool for async video communication, but don't use it. My teams use Skype (allows you to send recorded messages) and Signal (allows you to send async video). We do send a ton of written messages.... some very few audio messages (mostly sent by me to the team). But almost never video (because it has many drawbacks and little advantage over audio). You could have gotten this from using "Mom Test" questions on business users.
   b. There is however a use case for business async video, and it's when you have something that needs to be shown. Hence the epic success of Loom (I never used it, but I've been sent Loom videos from outside my company, so I can see they're gaining a lot of traction). Again, you could have gotten this from using "Mom Test" questions on business users.
2. I think there is a fixation here sometimes on developers trying to sell to other developers. If you had gone outside of this relatively small pool, you might have found many many uses cases for many other niches of business users.
3. To go deeper with the Loom example, I think your concept had merit but lacked one huge aspect that Loom has been very consciously building into their product : virality. Their product enables one paid user to send their video to many non-Loom users, which generates interest for Loom. Your concept (based on the screenshots) seems like a closed communication system. Which means I can't use you "on top of" existing systems (Skype, Signal, etc) but have to use you "instead of" those or along them. I think that's a barrier to adoption.

Thanks for sharing your experience. You referenced pivoting to a new project, I wish you lots of success with your new endeavour.

Sébastien

Consider that you may have simply lacked conviction / interest in developing the product. Otherwise, I believe you would have pushed harder by looking at problem/solution from different angles (e..g expanding beyond the developer market, learning from companies such as Loom that others have mentioned). Many products in their early years took long time gain traction - consider the quite successful Pinterest - the founder told in interviews how hard he had to push to find people who "loved" the product. Similar with "Superhuman" (https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit). Out of 1000 people, only 10,20,30 may love it. Find out why they love the product and build on top of that.

when you were getting so many vc calls did you tried to ask them what is their vision for your tool and if they would be willing to give introduction to companies in their portfolio that may find your tool useful?
its great that you pivoted hopefully this time it would be successful.

How many startups will waste time, money, effort to have the same learning ? This seems like the #1 mistake all startups make.
We have to realise startups exist to satisfy a need, the product/service is a solution. If there is no need/problem there is no reason any customer will buy your product. So study the problems first, study the existing solutions and then come up with a 10x better solution. That is the approach startups should take.

Hi. I'm not sure if you can apply it for an async video app, but pretotyping (https://www.pretotyping.org/) is a good way of testing / validating ideas really quickly and easily.

An example given was how aspiring entrepreneurs were able to test their "2-day old Sushi takeout restaurant" concept by just waiting outside of a normal sushi restaurant and asking passers by if they would pay half-price for 2-day old Sushi, and why/why not? (They found that the customers didn't want to risk getting sick or food poisoned for a few dollars. Maybe in another market, it would have tested better.)

Another example was, hand-building a piece of furniture or household good, and putting a fake IKEA sticker with prices/specs on it and putting up in an actual IKEA store display shelf (unsanctioned), and watching if anyone stopped to look / tried to take the product to cashier to buy. Now, you have market validation - proof of someone actually taking your fake product to the cashier with intent to buy. No excuses of "their purchasing manager wouldn't take my calls or reply to my emails".

But I really can align with what the OP went through. I've gone through several of those product fails. Here's hoping my next product would fare better.

Re: Loom - according to reports, Loom was founded in 2016 and raised about $44 million in total funding till 2019, and came out with the product in 2020. I guess they caught the COVID wave at the right moment. So they were this well-funded potential competitor in your space, and how did you view them? I'm curious for myself because I'm working on a note app and there are several well-funded players and of course the behemoths (Apple Notes, etc.) in the space.

Many thanks for sharing your experience, and wish you the best.

Tom

This very well sums up, "having a cool startup idea is not enough. It’s better to work on something boring and maybe less exciting that solves real issues."

async video is super niche when communication typically is synchronized... like telephone or video call. Plus this field is full of patents and already very crowded space by the large techs. Anyone can do synchronized can do async. Plus they are pretty much giving it out free (have difficulty charging their customers).

In my opinion, but I don't really know your full story, you just couldn't get traction. It's not a problem of the idea or the product itself but rather of the story you're telling. I see plenty of products in your niche and some of them look successful already (for example, and I'm in no way linked to them, Claap).

Instead of giving up, I think we should continue to collect feedback and pivot.

But how will one validate the idea without even an MVP built ? Also how to find right users to ask for feedback too matters .

Very inspiring story.

My mentor always tells me to create something which is already there in the market. If people are using that product then it is bit easy for you to validate. Like copy the idea, add your flavor and just launch it.

Build fast, fail fast - currently I am following this golden rule.🙂

I was going to say pivot (and then I saw it in your last sentence :)) I actually use async video meetings almost every week at work. I am a designer so I usually use it when sending designs for review. I use Loom in case you're wondering.

Personally, I think that's what MVPs are for. Put the product out there, test it, pivot it to fit your users' needs. It might not be your product or concept itself that's not needed, but the way you try to address the concept.

Any who! Good luck!

I feel your pain. I am looking to add features to fabform.io that users really need in a forms backend solution. Getting good user feedback is hard however.

Inspiring story Albert, but you did the best possible and tested it out in the real world. It seems you found the product-market fit, but not the market-product fit. Regardless, good job on launching and bringing it to life, you came out more knowledgeable then before, so there are many positives to it as well.

Nice article

Love the realness in this article. Something I needed to hear too. Thank you for sharing your journey.

Yup! The product has to solve a real issue. It's crazy how so many first-time founders overlook this - myself included. The second time round you do the opposite and stay at the validation stage for too long. Sometimes, that can be just as bad because your service may be relevant at the time but if you sit on it too long it may no longer be useful t the exact people who validated it in the first place. It's about finding the sweet spot between just enough validation and just enough speed getting it to market.

Unfortunately, this is the problem when you don't get enough validation. Personally, I wouldn't have forged ahead with trying to create a MVP without more feedback, but I can see why you did. When you love what you're building it's hard to just quit. It does look like a cool product though - shame it wasn't needed. Best of luck with your next startup.