Validation for simple ideas?
General advice on here is to do market research and validation to see if your idea is backed up by paying audiences. However, what if my idea is a relatively simple idea (think https://www.indiehackers.com/product/hello-weather/revenue type of simple) that would take the same amount of time to build it compared to doing validation? Would it be better to build the product first and then market it later in this case?
Saw you're a designer, can you make a prototype in Figma and create a demo video to show others for validation? Landing page, video, signup form.
That would save a lot of eng time.
That makes more sense now. I assume based on the number of signups, I can see who is interested in it and decide to build the simple website/app from there?
Yep exactly. The whole goal is to get max ROI for your energy.
I'm always hesitant to spend time/engineering effort before I feel 85%-95% confident something will work.
I suggest starting in the figma prototype route, even making a very quick iMovie that you can show your target audience. Think core functionality and value-prop in 2 minutes.
From there, judge the response and adjust your next move accordingly.
At the very minimum you'll have learned a ton about which features people liked and which ones they don't. Very helpful for setting requirements for the build process later.