This time around I'm not building without validation: seeking advice on how to validate a product idea

Find your target market and ask for money. You can create all kinds of fancy systems and strategies, but it's for nought if you 1) can't reach potential customers and 2) have them hand over their hard-earned money.

The easiest shortcut you'll find is to sell something which is already selling. That's the initial "will someone buy this" question answered. Work on your marketing and offer. Wait until you have presales before you build anything.

As for your product.. is it something bars or breweries are already paying for? If not, you are adding further obstacles to a conversion. Do a search on here for "cold emails". I've seen a few decent posts on how to make that work well.

Do a search in Google for "bars|breweries owners forum", probably find a few communities of these people. Check Reddit, FB groups, etc, .. example on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheBrewery/

You might even find other possible niches such as home brewers:

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/#general-discussion.5

Could your product help them or could you build something else to help them?

Here is what I did:

• Hire someone or DIY comprehensive market research and customer analysis.
• Conduct a survey to understand your target customers or users.
• Build an MVP to test with beta users.
• Speak to people who will use your product.
• Don't be rigid on your idea. Your vision when starting could be one but the actual problem might be completely different.
• Be active on a network (linked in, facebook, twitter, etc) where your target audience are mostly active.
• Don't shy or be afraid to share what you are thinking, even if it doesn't make sense. It will eventually.

https://www.upwork.com/ab/jobs/search/?q=lead generation, decision maker&sort=recency

May spark an idea.