The cheapest market research is a paid workshop
Most market research is either too abstract or too expensive.
Surveys tell you what people say they might do. Competitor analysis tells you what other businesses are doing. Interviews tell you what people believe about their problem.
A paid workshop tells you what they will actually do.
The format can be simple:
- Choose one narrow outcome.
- Invite 5 to 10 people who already describe that problem.
- Charge enough that attendance matters, even if the founding price is low.
- Deliver the smallest useful version in 60 to 90 minutes.
- Ask what they expected, where they got stuck, and what they would pay to continue.
The money is useful, but the behavior is the real research. Who pays? Who shows up? Who completes the exercise? Who asks for the next step?
That signal is much stronger than a list of survey responses.
It also keeps the economics sane. A creator validating demand should not need a $99 or $149 monthly platform bill before the first sale. A commission-only model such as iLoquio, at $0/month and 5% per transaction, lets the workshop fund the infrastructure as it proves itself.
The first workshop is not just a product launch. It is a paid research instrument.
What did your first paying customers teach you that surveys never would?
