What's your criteria for a validated idea?

For me, I got to know the issue before building anything. Don't know what you are building but there are places on the internet where you can see people with real paying trying to payas little as they can to got there problems solved. Freelancing websites. Just go there and see what kind of problems appears more than once. For me that is a pretty good way to validate if your idea would get traction.

If no one is talking about the pain you think you are solving. Maybe there isn't a pain to be solved at all.

But there is no other way, you need to talk with those people, build a prototype and message them, tell you understand what they need and try to sell.

For me validation might be different from you, but a success in my book is to have someone that wants to pay you a recurrence and the amount they are paying you Is greater than the hassle you are having to build it

1. Create landing page with some key features of what your service is solving and a waitlist signup.
2. Join your target audience groups here in indiehacker , fb , instagrams and reddit
3. Ask a direct question on thus groups. Does a service such X which solve X is something you will pay for ? If you get any interaction dont be shy to ask them to signup for your waitlist

Hair on fire problem = the potential customer will call, email and potentially follow up when shown even a glimpse of what I am building.

If I have to chase after someone, that means I haven't find my ideal early customer yet.

Maybe such hair on fire customers do not simply exist, but then is that a business I should be even getting into?

Validating the problem and validating a solution are 2 different stages to validate an idea. To validate a problem you have to find people talking/discussing about a problem and ask them what's causing it, how they use any work around and how painful it is to have the problem. To validate a solution (which is built to solve a specific problem) you need the following:

1. To validate the solution you need to have multiple users using the product (paid or not) to solve the same problem.. so if there are 3 users using your product for different reasons it's not a validation. Same goal is important as you'll base your marketing and future development based on this goal.

2. At least 5 users using the product is good but more the better

3. If you conduct a survey among the users who have used the product multiple times and have attended the 'aha' moment, and ask just one question- 'if this product doesn't exist tomorrow how would you feel?' answer choices- 1. Nothing, 2. Disappointed 3. Extremely disappointed. -> if at least 40% users respond as 'extremely disappointed' you have validated your idea.

Going back to why selling alone doesn't validate the idea. There are many cases where people buy something flashy and soon realize that they don't need it. Since saas is based on a recurring payment model, someone paying for it once without using it doesn't mean they'll continue pay for it/using it for a long time.

For more insights on saas ideas and validation please check out my newsletter- https://decodingvirality.substack.com/

Validating your startup idea before building is essential. While there is no standard checklist, here are some approaches:

Customer Conversations: Talk to potential customers to understand their needs and validate demand for your product or solution.

Pre-Sales or Letters of Intent: Secure commitments from customers to purchase your offering before it's built, indicating market interest.

Market Research: Analyze market size, growth potential, and competition to identify opportunities and differentiation.

Competitor Analysis: Study competitors' offerings, pricing, and positioning to find gaps and unique value propositions.

Proof of Concept: Develop an MVP or prototype to demonstrate key features and gather early feedback.

User Testing: Conduct sessions with target users to observe their interaction with your MVP and gather feedback on usability.

Iterative Approach: Continuously seek feedback, make improvements, and refine your idea based on user input.

Remember to balance objective data with qualitative insights from customers. Engage with mentors, startup communities, and experts for guidance tailored to your industry.

I recently saw a post here saying that after getting 2,000 signups for a waitlist landing page, only one of them became a paying customer when the product launched.

You can think you have validation when you see the number of signups.

Then you can think you have zero validation when only one becomes a customer.

To me, the best signal is excitement.

If you can detect that people are actually excited and react in a way that's more than "oh, that sounds cool, so anyway..." then you know you're on the right path. You may not have it right yet, but maybe you'll get there.

Then once you launch and see underwhelming numbers - that also shouldn't scare you into giving up. Sometimes you need just a few active users in the beginning to figure out what you actually need to build in order to get more people like them excited.

Not exactly calling its a validated idea. But here is the quick validation process, I would recommend.

• Start with a landing page
• Build the waitlist by talking about your product in various forums like IH, Reddit, Facebook groups.
• You can share with audience about how your brainstormed your idea, finalized domain, show how you plan to build product and drive traction by building in public
• Allocate more more more time for marketing your landing page
• If possible, talk 1:1 with your waitlist users and see what they were looking for. (Read The Moms Test book)
• If still no luck, try with some ads and stick to less than $100 budget and improve your waitlist.

Might help, one of the most solid advice I've heard in my career is to dive into a potential competitor's reviews page, filter that to the bad reviews, and try to find a common pattern (i.e., 'what are their problems with the current product of competitor X?'). Then try to gauge if the idea you have in mind will solve whatever that problem is.

Honestly I've struggled with figuring out what Idea is worth pursuing. Picking the right idea in a growing market is the most important decision you can make as a builder.

In order to make it more effective I created a validator tool that I use to filter all of my ideas and launched it on ph last week

Few things that are important to answer

Problem

• How significant is this problem among the target users? How urgent is it?
• Is it significant enough that people would be willing to pay for a solution?

Market Research

• Is there demand for something like this?
• Who are the competitors? What are you doing differently, what could u be doing differently? + Competitor reviews
• Trend Analysis

Potential Customer Base

• How big is this customer base
• analyse demographics and psychographics of customers

Evaluate Business model

• suggested models - subscription? one time? freemium? free trial?
• Potential revenue streams
• Customer UA cost
• Margins
• Determine if business model is sustainable

How Feasible and risky is this idea based on known frameworks of successful businesses.

These are just a few things you should take into consideration.
Having your own filtering system is extremely important

I created one that works for me, It basically does all of the above and more and rates the idea out of a 100, so I can see the potential relative to my other ideas

1. Before you validate an idea, make sure you're clear on what problem you solve and who you're solving it for.
2. If you've done that, you can test your idea with additional people

I don't think you need numbers, but if you have more than one enthusiastic "yes" when you approach a prospective client before you've even finished the convo, then you're probably on the right track.

Hey Mohammad,

First, understanding your target market's pain points and ensuring there is demand for your solution is crucial. Conducting thorough market research and customer interviews can provide valuable insights.
Next, look for indicators of interest and traction, such as pre-sales, early sign-ups, or letters of intent from potential customers. These actions demonstrate a genuine need for your product or service. Additionally, analyzing the competitive landscape and assessing your unique value proposition can help gauge the potential for success.
Numbers-wise, you can consider metrics like customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, or conversion rates. While specific numbers may vary depending on your industry, these metrics provide an objective view of the viability and sustainability of your idea.

Gl with your mvp :)

I dont think you can ever me 100% sure something will work, though in my opinion the best validation would be getting g presales. I recommend the book "The Mom Test" if you wanna go down the interview validation route.