Market Validation
Hey all! I'm a software developer wanting to start a side project. I am passionate about reducing the political polarization in the world particularly the U.S by connecting people of different views. My idea is basically a Tinder for politics where users get matched with people they would disagree with in order to meet up and debate. I'm having trouble reaching people for validation. I have a survey but I am finding it difficult to get responses. Validation is new to me so any help with this is appreciated and any feedback on my survey would be appreciated as well.
Here's the link; thanks!
Interesting idea. Before focusing on the solution, I'd spend more time validating the problem itself.
One challenge is that people may agree that political polarization is a problem, but that doesn't automatically mean they want to meet strangers and debate politics. Those are two very different things.
I'd also be cautious about relying too heavily on surveys. In my experience, conversations often reveal much more than survey responses. Try speaking directly with people who actively participate in political discussions, debate groups, local civic organizations, university clubs, or online communities. Focus on understanding their current behavior rather than asking whether they'd use your app.
Questions like:
This is exactly why market validation is so important before building. A lot of founders fall in love with a solution before confirming there's enough demand for it. The validation frameworks here are worth reviewing before investing significant development time: https://foundersbar.com/market-validation-for-startups
The strongest signal isn't whether people say they like the idea. It's whether they already spend time, effort, or money trying to solve the problem today.
I think you might want to start by identifying communities that have this type of open in-good-faith debate, and figuring out how they attract their members. For example, the "Change my view" subreddit tries to attract people who are open to the idea that they could be wrong about something, and post their opinion and challenge others to change their view. How did they start? How did they get traction?
That's a great suggestion I hadn't considered that. I agree that those communities would be my target audience but I'd also like to involve those who argue politics on social media and maybe aren't as open to rational debate. I've been trying to share my survey in Facebook political groups and hadn't had much luck yet.
If they're not open to rational debate, why would they want to participate in this? It's like defining your target group of users as "the people who would never want to use this product." I guess my first question would be, "are there groups that are predisposed to want something like this?" That sounds like an easier battle to win
Sorry to clarify maybe not that they aren't open to rational debate but that they are politically trapped in a bubble. Part of the problem I want to try to solve is to help with political polarization by bringing people together face to face instead of being divided both politically and physically. I'd like to get a sense if these types of people would use such an app. I think the groups you mentioned would for sure but I'm not so sure that would have as much of an impact on the problem I'm trying to solve.
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