Building software is the expensive way to find out nobody wants it. Validation is the cheap way. The goal is not to prove you are right; it is to find out as fast as possible whether you are wrong, so you can pivot or kill the idea before it consumes your savings.
Key takeaways
- Validate the problem first, then the solution, then the price.
- Behaviour beats opinions: signups, deposits and payments are evidence; compliments are not.
- Run several cheap tests before writing production code.
- Decide in advance what result counts as success or failure.
What you are trying to learn
- Problem: is it frequent, painful and urgent for a specific group?
- Alternatives: what do people use now, and what do they hate about it?
- Solution: does your approach make a real difference?
- Willingness to pay: will they pay, how much, and how often?
- Reachability: can you find and acquire these customers at an affordable cost?
Test 1: problem interviews
Talk to 15 to 30 people in your target market. Your job is to learn about their lives, not to pitch.
Good questions
- "Tell me about the last time you [had this problem]. What happened?"
- "What did you do about it? What did you try?"
- "What was hardest or most annoying?"
- "How much time or money does it cost you?"
- "What tools do you use today? What do you wish they did?"
- "Who else is involved in the decision?"
Avoid
- "Would you use a product that...?" People are bad at predicting their own behaviour and tend to be nice.
- Leading questions that describe your idea before listening.
Strong signals: they describe specific recent incidents, they already spend money or hack workarounds, and they ask when they can try it.
Test 2: competitor and market research
- Search for existing solutions; competition is often a good sign of demand.
- Read reviews (especially 2 and 3 star) to find unmet needs.
- Check search volume for the problem phrases customers use.
- Estimate market size bottom-up: number of target customers x realistic price.
Test 3: landing page smoke test
Build a one-page site that describes the outcome as if the product exists, with a call to action such as "Join the waitlist" or "Pre-order".
- Write a headline that states the benefit for a specific audience.
- Show how it works in three steps and include a mock-up or short video.
- Add a clear price or pricing hint to filter out casual interest.
- Drive a few hundred targeted visitors via small ads, communities or outreach.
- Measure signup or pre-order conversion against a threshold you set in advance.
A well-known example is Dropbox's explainer video, which reportedly drove huge waitlist signups before the product was fully built. Our guide to building a website shows how to create a fast page quickly.
Test 4: fake door test
Add a button, menu item or pricing tier for a feature you have not built. When users click, show "Coming soon, join the list". Count clicks. This works best inside an existing product or site with traffic.
Test 5: concierge or Wizard of Oz MVP
- Concierge: deliver the service manually for a handful of customers, face to face. You learn the real workflow and what people value.
- Wizard of Oz: present a front end that looks automated while you perform steps manually behind the scenes.
Both prove demand and teach you what to automate first, which feeds directly into scoping your SaaS MVP.
Test 6: pre-sales and paid pilots
The strongest validation is money. Ask for pre-orders, deposits, annual prepayment at a discount, or a paid pilot with a small number of customers. If nobody will pay even a little, interest may be weaker than it looks. Be honest and clear about delivery timelines, and refund promptly if you cannot deliver.
Test 7: prototype and usability tests
Create a clickable prototype and watch five target users try to complete a task. Where they hesitate or get lost tells you what to fix before building. Learn how design layers differ in UI vs UX design.
Score your idea
Rate each from 1 to 5 based on evidence, not hope:
| Criterion | Evidence you need |
|---|---|
| Problem severity | People describe it as painful and recent |
| Frequency | It happens weekly or daily |
| Existing spend | They already pay or waste time on workarounds |
| Solution fit | Testers say it solves the problem, and use the prototype correctly |
| Willingness to pay | Pre-orders, deposits or pilots |
| Reachability | You can find them for a sensible cost |
| Market size | Enough customers to build a business |
Total under about 20: pivot or stop. 20 to 28: keep testing. Above 28: build a small MVP.
Define success before you test
Write down the result that would convince you, for example: "At least 10 of 30 interviewees describe the problem unprompted, 100 visitors produce 15 signups, and 3 people pre-pay." Without a threshold, you will rationalise any result.
Common validation mistakes
- Asking friends and family and counting politeness as proof.
- Pitching instead of listening.
- Confirmation bias: remembering only positive feedback.
- Testing with the wrong audience.
- Treating a few signups as success without any payment.
- Building a full product to "test" it.
- Never stopping: endless validation can be procrastination.
What to do after you validate
- Write a one-page product brief based on what you learned.
- List the smallest set of features that solve the core problem.
- Estimate the build using our guides to app costs and website costs.
- Pick a partner or team; see how to choose a development agency.
- Keep customers close during the build.
Ready to turn a validated idea into a product?
We help founders move from validated idea to launched MVP, with discovery workshops, prototypes and phased delivery. See our custom software service or book a free planning call.
