Before investing time and money into a new business, it’s essential to validate your idea. Validation confirms that there’s a real demand for your product or service and that people are willing to pay for it.
The first step is talking to potential customers. Don’t rely solely on friends and family. Reach out to people in your target market and ask about their pain points. Do they experience the problem your business solves? How do they currently handle it?
Next, create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or prototype. This can be a landing page, a video demo, or a basic version of your product. The goal is to gather feedback with minimal resources.
Use surveys and interviews to refine your idea. Ask open-ended questions to uncover insights. Instead of “Would you use this?” ask “How do you currently solve this issue?” or “What would make this solution worth paying for?”
Set up pre-orders or waitlists to measure real interest. If people are willing to sign up or put down a deposit, you have early proof of market demand.
Another method is A/B testing marketing messages to see which pain points resonate most. This helps shape your branding before launch.
Remember: validation isn’t about getting 100% positive feedback—it’s about collecting real signals from the market that your solution has potential.
Proper validation can save months of work and help you build a product people actually want. It’s one of the smartest steps any entrepreneur can take.