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I Asked 3.6 Million Founders How to Validate an Idea
Sometimes, I get stuck in a mental limbo, unsure if I should pursue an idea or not. That’s exactly how I felt on a late Tuesday evening after work, when I threw this post into the "Build in Public" community on X:
By the next morning, 3.6 million people had seen the post - it had gone viral. I squinted at my phone in disbelief while notifications continued flooding my screen faster than I could swipe them away.
To give you a better sense of the virality, two things happened: First, I reconnected with a childhood friend who saw my post in his X-feed by chance; and, second, the post even made it into Marc Louvion's YouTube video.1
The topic clearly strikes a nerve. Rightfully so, as validation is the precursor to profitability — it's the revenue side of the profit equation and answers the key question: Will enough people open their wallet for this? It's the founder's equivalent to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.2
This blog-post summarizes the responses under my viral post and my key take-away. Enjoy!
Build on an existing market
When I think about building something new, Peter Thiel's famous quote "Competition is for losers" comes to mind. However, the replies under my post point in the opposite direction, with many suggesting to remix products that already exist.
"[...] I just build already validated ideas. I’m no longer trying to re-invent the wheel. It’s sad but I had to adapt."
Many posts with a similar sentiment also mention that if you go this route, you should aim to one-up the competition.
"Build something that’s already in demand but better."
Scavenger hunt for pain points
A significant subset of replies talk about scavenging for pain points and using them as a starting point for a product:
"Speaking to friends in other industries, learning about the tools they use on a daily and their pain points."
The replies that fall into this bucket also mentioned several ways how to find pain points, such as talking to people, using search engine keyword planners, or checking what people are asking on social media.
Two interesting sources to find pain points mentioned were:
Talk to people
I touched on "talking to people" in the previous section, but given the large number of replies highlighting the importance of this, it deserves its own section. There's at least a dozen replies like this one:
"Have you tried talking to people?"
My observation is that many people, especially introverted developer types, shy away from this, even though iterating based on feedback is key to building something people want.
"Best way to build something peoples want => iterate. An idea is not really what changes everything, the execution is key. Your users/customers are the best source of improvement."
Start with distribution
There's agreement in the replies that distribution is a key pillar to building something that people want.
"First find a marketing/ads channel, then build a product that will fit there."
The underlying idea is that if the surface area is large enough, you can sell almost anything. And the first place many people look to is social media.
Some interesting suggestions to start by publishing content before building anything. Build on a platform or marketplace. Find a new channel for what works.Have an audience. Run ads and see if people sign up.
Sell before you build
"Sell first, release later. Or at least have a waiting list with a small commitment."
Scratch your own itch
This one also appeared multiple times in the responses. We're surrounded by problems waiting to be solvedl. And we all live in the same world. If you work on something that you would pay for, surely there are others just like you who would do the same. merge with Passion is your fuel. If it looks like a good idea, but you're not passionate about working on it, should you work on it?
"Build something you’re truly passionate about [...]"
Dummy landing page
The community was remarkably unanimous on this one. If you're not sure if there's a market for your idea, build a landing page and see if people sign up. Some suggested building a free version to kickstart the process. Ai makes building landing pages easier than ever.
"This is how I’m doing it:
🔸Build simple landing page with waitlist signup or straight away with payment links.
🔹Find your target audience on social platforms like Reddit, FB groups or here on X
🔸show them landing pageIf someone sign up / pay, then it’s validated 💪"
Law of large numbers
If you're not sure if there's a market for your idea, build something and see if people want it.
"Sometimes is just trying things and see what sticks around"
"Build an MVP, Get it out there, See what sticks"
What's my take-away?
"Start learning marketing and build those skills. You have a Ph.D.—you are going to overthink and overengineer by default."
