Building first and asking customers later is the most expensive way to learn your idea needs work. It is easy to spend $20,000 finding out what ten conversations could have told you for free.
You can test demand before you pay anyone. Here are five practical ways to validate your idea, the signals that mean it is time to build, and the ones that mean wait.
Five ways to validate before you build
- Problem interviews. Talk to ten to twenty people who have the problem. Ask about the last time it happened and what they did about it. Do not pitch.
- A landing page with a real ask. Describe the outcome and ask for an email, a call or a deposit. Clicks are weak signals. Money is strong.
- The concierge version. Deliver the result by hand for a few customers. If you cannot get people to accept it for free done by hand, software will not fix that.
- A no-code prototype. Spreadsheets, forms and automation tools can fake a surprising amount of a product.
- Pre-sales or letters of intent. For B2B ideas, a signed letter saying "we will pay X when it does Y" is powerful proof.
Signals that mean it is time to build
- People ask when they can use it, without being prompted.
- At least a few people have paid, pre-paid or signed something.
- You are doing the manual version so often it is breaking.
- You can describe the one workflow people need in a single sentence.
Already have early signals? Tell me what you have learned and I will tell you honestly whether it is time to build.
Book a free scoping call →Signals that mean wait
- Everyone says it is a great idea, but nobody has changed their behavior.
- You cannot name five specific people who would use it next week.
- The problem only shows up a few times a year for each customer.
Frequently asked questions
How many customer interviews should I do before building an MVP?
Ten is a reasonable minimum. You are looking for repeated patterns in how people describe the problem, not a statistically perfect sample.
Is a waitlist enough validation?
A waitlist is a start. Deposits, pre-orders or letters of intent are much stronger evidence that people will pay.
Can the MVP itself be the validation?
Yes, if it is small. That is the point of a thin slice: a cheap, fast build designed to answer one question about demand.
Validated? Let us build the slice that proves it
If people are asking to use it, the next step is a small, fast build that answers your biggest open question. Book a free call. If you are not ready yet, I will say so and point you to the cheapest next test.
- Free 30-minute call
- Fixed price from $7,500
- Live in four weeks
- You own the code
I take on two to three builds at a time, so start dates fill up.