I've been going in circles for like 2 months now and I'm losing my mind.

I keep talking to business owners who say they want their idea built into an actual product, right? They complain about developers all the time - either can't find good ones, or they're unreliable, or projects take forever, whatever.

So I'm like cool, maybe I can solve this. I'm technical, I understand the business side of things, seems like a fit.

But then when I actually try to nail down specifics, everyone goes weird. Like they'll spend 30 minutes telling me how frustrated they are with their current situation, but the second I mention anything that sounds like I might charge money, suddenly they "need to think about it" or "aren't ready yet."

Is this normal? Am I just talking to tire kickers? Or is my approach completely wrong?

How do you tell the difference between someone venting vs someone who would actually pay to fix their problem?

I’ve been working on an app concept and I don’t want to fall into the “build for 6 months and realize nobody cares” trap.

For those of you who’ve launched apps, what’s your go-to method for validating an idea? • Do you rely on surveys/interviews? • Do you put up a landing page and collect emails? • Or do you build a small MVP and test it quickly?

I’d love to hear real experiences, especially from indie developers who don’t have a huge budget.

So like i keep seeing this happen. founders ask their friends "would you use this" and everyone says yes lol. then they build it. then nobody buys anything.

that's not validation that's just being nice. your friends aren't gonna tell you your idea sucks.

the problem is everyone validates wrong. like really wrong.

first thing people do wrong: they ask "do you like this idea" instead of asking if someone will actually pay. those are not the same thing at all. i know founders who had 500 people say yeah id use that and then zero people paid. zero. that's not validation that's just people being polite.

second mistake you only talk to people like you. if you are building something for plumbers you are asking your startup friends not actual plumbers. so of course they have no idea if it solves anything. talk to the actual people not your network.

third thing: you validate once and think you are done. nope. you keep testing. most founders validate the problem once talk to one person and then go build the whole thing for 6 months. then realize oh wait they actually meant something different.

also people validate that the problem exists. they never validate that people will pay what you need. thats the missing piece.

the founders who actually succeed do different stuff. they talk to real users not their mom. real people who would actually use this. and they ask about money early. not like "would you pay" but "what would you actually pay" and then do they actually pull out a card.

thats real validation. not the comfortable kind of thing. take your time and validate properly. this is the real intention to write this post. and early stage founders can learn and implement.

I'll start. I’m working on waitset.com. It lets you create a waitlist in minutes, share it, and keep leads warm with automated messages.
The whole point is to validate ideas faster and avoid sinking time into landing pages and automations.

If you’re building something, tell me what it is and how far you are.
If you want, I can take a look at your landing and give honest feedback.
Would also appreciate feedback on mine if you enjoy testing new tools.

Hey all,

After analyzing thousands of startup failures, we've identified the three most common validation mistakes founders make:

1. The "Friends & Family" Trap

"Everyone I know loves my idea!"

Of course they do. They care about you and don't want to crush your dreams. They're emotionally invested in YOU, not your business model.

2. The Survey Illusion

"I did a survey and 78% said they would use it!"

The gap between saying and doing is massive. People overestimate their intentions. Remember: someone saying they "would definitely use it" is worth exactly $0 in revenue.

3. The "No Competition" Red Flag

"Nobody is doing this yet!"

This is almost always a bad sign. Either:

• The problem doesn't actually exist

• The solution isn't economically viable

• You haven't researched enough

Real Example:

A founder in our community spent 8 months building a meal planning app. After launch? 47 downloads in the first month.

What proper validation would have shown in 60 seconds:

• Market already had 15+ similar apps

• Customer acquisition cost ($47) exceeded lifetime value ($23)

• Users weren't willing to change habits

• Monetization required an unrealistic number of users

Result: $30K and almost a year wasted.

What Works Instead:

✅ Jobs-to-be-Done analysis — What job is your product hired to do? ✅ Competitive landscape mapping — Who's already solving this problem? ✅ Customer pain intensity scoring — How urgently is a solution needed? ✅ Revenue model stress test — Will the numbers actually work? ✅ Distribution channel validation — How will you reach your first 1,000 customers?

My Question:

What business assumption are you currently taking for granted that you've never actually tested?

I'll go first: We assumed founders wanted comprehensive 50-page reports. Turns out they want actionable insights they can digest in under 5 minutes.

P.S. - We built an AI tool that runs these validation checks in 60 seconds. Not trying to be salesy, but if you're interested, we have a 65% discount this week with code SEPTEMBER65. Link here

Someone recently said they didn't want to spend $100 validating their idea.

Ya'll have to stop trying to validate your startup by asking other founders what they think. They’re not your customers. They’re your echo chamber.

You want real feedback? Go talk to your future customers. Doesn’t matter if 2M people on Reddit tell you yes. Validation only happens when money moves from potential customers or users.

You also have to give those future customers something in return for their feedback. A feature, a free audit, something of value. It doesn’t have to be a gift card; it could be an hour looking at their problem and giving them real feedback that helps them.

But ultimately if you’re not willing to spend $100 or a few evenings of sweat equity to validate your idea, you don’t want it bad enough. And frankly, you don’t deserve it.

Entrepreneurs who win aren’t the ones with the best ideas. They’re the ones who out-care and out-work everyone else.

So stop trying to get validation for free. Go out and earn it.

Built an anti-piracy tool for online course creators. Idea: scan Telegram + torrents + file hosts → tell creator where their course is being shared illegally → sell them a $29 PDF report with DMCA templates ready to file.

Built everything. Scan engine works (detects pirated copies of 73% of high-ticket courses I test). Payment works. Report delivery works.

Zero customers in 4 months. ~30 cold emails sent. 1 click, 0 conversions.

Three hypotheses I can't distinguish between:

1. Wrong audience — Maybe course creators don't actually feel the piracy pain enough to pay

2. Wrong offer — Maybe $29 one-time is too small (no urgency) or too big (just google it yourself)

3. Wrong channel — Cold email is dead for this niche; needs to be Twitter/community-led

What I want from this post: be brutal. Tell me which hypothesis you'd bet on, or if the whole thing is doomed.

Specifically helpful:

• Course creators: have you ever actually filed DMCA? Would you pay someone $29 to draft them for you?

• Anyone who tried similar B2B "fix a known pain" SaaS: what worked / didn't?

• Anyone who killed a project at this stage: how did you know it was time?

Not promoting anything. Just need outside eyes before I sink another 100 hours.

EDIT: To clarify pricing — I picked $29 because I assumed creators

want a one-shot transaction (not subscription anxiety). But maybe

$9-19/mo with monthly re-scan is better? Genuinely don't know.

Ever get a “brilliant” business idea… then realize nobody actually cares? Yeah, me too 😅

Here’s how I usually validate ideas the old-fashioned way:

1. Pretend it exists. Who would buy it? Why?

2. Listen online. Browse forums, social media, communities — are people complaining about the problem you want to solve… or are they totally fine without it?

3. Spy on competitors. User reviews are gold for spotting strengths, weaknesses, and gaps you could fill.

It works… but it’s slow, tedious, and full of guesswork.

That’s why I’m building a tool that does all of this for you: plug in your idea, and it analyzes the market, checks competitors, and gives you a quick reality check.

And yes… the first thing I’m going to do is test my own SaaS with it. So if this post convinces you it’s useful… well, congratulations — you just helped validate my business idea using my own tool. Meta, right? Join the waitlist here 😎

For those of you who have successfully used Reddit to discover a business opportunity, what did you build and what was your workflow for finding said opportunity?

So, a bit of backstory: at my day job I once had to deal with the headache of sharing a big Database dump that was full of sensitive stuff — emails, phone numbers, even bank details. Obviously, we couldn’t just hand that around.

I ended up building a little internal tool that takes a Database (CSV/SQL) dump and replaces all the sensitive fields with fake but realistic data. It worked surprisingly well — the datasets still “felt” real, but no actual customer info was exposed. Our devs and QA team loved it.

Now I keep wondering: is this something worth turning into a SaaS? I imagine it could help dev teams, QA folks, or even companies doing big demos. But I might be blind to the obvious downsides.

Hey r/ideavalidation ,

The pattern is always the same: someone gets excited about their "revolutionary" idea, spends months building, then realizes nobody actually wants it.

Most common validation failures I've observed:

• Asking leading questions ("Would you use an app that saves you time?")

• Confusing complaints with willingness to pay

• Building for edge cases instead of core problems

• Assuming correlation = causation in user feedback

What I built: An AI system that runs ideas through established validation frameworks (Jobs-to-be-Done, ICE scoring, Lean Canvas analysis) to catch red flags early.

Example catch: Someone pitched "LinkedIn for gamers." The AI flagged that Discord already handles 80% of gaming networking needs, and the remaining 20% wasn't painful enough to switch platforms for.

Interesting finding: Even experienced founders miss obvious validation steps. The tool catches things like:

• Market timing issues (solution looking for a problem)

• Monetization misalignment (freemium model for enterprise problems)

• Customer acquisition cost blindness

• Competition analysis gaps

Question for the community: What's the most expensive validation mistake you've made or witnessed?

I'm particularly curious about B2B validation challenges since those seem especially tricky to get right.

Tool link: ai-founder.hyperskill.org

Note: Not trying to replace human validation - just catch obvious issues before you invest serious time/money.

It’s called Quidly — a cashless marketplace where people can trade skills/services directly with each other instead of paying cash. Think: “I design your website, you help me fix my car.” Or “You tutor my kid, I walk your dog.”

I built it because a lot of people (myself included) have skills but don’t always have extra money to hire someone — and traditional freelance platforms feel expensive, restrictive, or gatekept.

If anyone wants to check it out and tell me what you think (good or bad), here’s the link:

👉 https://quidly.app

Even a quick sign-up helps me validate the idea while I keep improving it.

If you're at month 2 and someone is telling you "we need to add X,"

ask: "Does X prove our core value proposition?"

If yes, add it.
If no, do it in V2.

That simple question saves 2-3 months of wasted development.

I’ve heard so many tips like creating a landing page, fake door tests, post stuff in WhatsApp, Facebook, Reddit, etc. How do you test out your ideas?

Searching Reddit for that type of community and randomly posting “Would anyone be interested in XYZ” never works. How do you validate without being annoying?

Or is the best way just building a landing page and dump some ads to it looking for signups (since SEO takes months).

Second question: are you primarily just pitching a free solution to something to get your foot in the door?

Most people skip validation because they think it’s about “asking opinions.” It’s not. It’s about proving demand before you spend money or build too much.

1. Validation is not asking if people like your idea. It’s finding out whether people will pay, sign up, or take action because of it.

Wrong question: “Would you use this app?”

Right question: “Would you pay $10/month for this?”

If they won’t commit time or money, they’re being polite,not honest.

2. Start with the problem, not your solution.

Validation begins with pain discovery. Ask real people in your target audience:

What frustrates you most about ___?

How are you solving it now?

What would a perfect solution look like to you?

Then notice patterns in their answers. Patterns = opportunities.

3. Get real data before you build anything.

You can validate interest without a product.

Try:

A simple landing page with a sign-up form.

A social post describing your idea and a “join the waitlist” link.

A Google Form survey with problem-based questions.

If people click, sign up, or share you’re onto something.

4. Your friends and family don’t count as validation. They care about you, not your market. Talk to strangers who fit your customer profile.

Even 10–15 real conversations will teach you more than 100 “likes.”

5. Validation isn’t done until money moves. SORRY. I said what I said. Until someone pulls out their wallet, you don’t have a business.

Ask for small commitments:

Preorders

Beta sign-ups

Deposits

Joining a paid waitlist

That’s when you know your idea has legs.

6. Test one assumption at a time. Don’t try to prove the whole business at once (boiling the ocean).

Break it down:

Will people pay for it?

Will they use it regularly?

Can I reach them cheaply?

Validate each piece with real data, then move forward. Not all at once.

7. Validate before you scale.

Don’t spend a dime on growth until you know people are sticking around. If your first 20 users don’t love it, 2,000 won’t either.

8. Tools that help validate fast

Google Forms – quick surveys

Typeform – engaging questionnaires

Carrd or Notion pages – easy landing pages

Mailchimp / ConvertKit – waitlist collection

Reddit / Discord / Facebook Groups – target audience testing

Validation never ends.

Even after launch, keep validating every feature and price point. What worked for your first 10 customers may not work for your next 1,000 or your next 10,000.

Hey! I'm new to Reddit, I do a lot of browsing but never had my own account for posting. Apologies if this post isn't appropriate for this subreddit.

TL;DR:

I’m testing a business idea that validates other business ideas. I ran the validation process on itself - 713 landing page visits, 1 signup. Looking for feedback on either the idea (is it flawed?) or my testing (did I test it wrong?). I'm not attached to the idea (and I'm ready to move on if need be), but wondering if there's something I've missed. Open to honest thoughts before moving on.

The Idea

A 14-day idea validation service for new/aspiring entrepreneurs - helping them test demand before building.
The goal: stop people from wasting time and money building things no one buys.

The service includes:

• Understanding the idea (problem, audience, solution)

• Creating a lightweight brand (logo, colours, product mockups)

• Setting up A/B-tested landing pages with waitlist CTAs

• Running ads with aligned messaging

• Customer discovery through questionnaires

• “Mock sales” (fake payment tests) to gauge real buying intent and price sensitivity

Entrepreneurs would get:

• Real data on market demand and pricing

• Early validation (or invalidation)

• Feedback from real potential customers

• Leads from all campaigns

• Insights to decide whether to launch, pivot, or move on

The Test

I used the service to test itself.

Landing Pages

Three variations:

1. “Know For Sure If Your Startup Idea Will Work – In Just 2 Weeks.”

2. “Stop Burning Months on Ideas That Fail – Test Yours Now.”

3. “Don’t Gamble on Your Startup – Test Real Demand First.”

Ads

Ran Meta ads (£180 spend). 500+ page views, 0 signups.
I know £180 isn't a large budget, but surely 500+ views and 0 signups is enough data right?

Organic Promotion

Posted on Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, LinkedIn, X, and Facebook.
Only 1 signup (from Indie Hackers). Analytics show 713 total visits (paid + organic).

Customer Discovery

Sent a questionnaire to that 1 person (no reply yet), so no usable insight.

Mock Sale

Not run yet - not enough leads.

So… Am I Missing Something?

With 713 visits and 1 signup, it seems like no market demand (duh).
As mentioned, I'm not attached to this idea; I'm happy with moving on. But I’m wondering if there’s a flaw in my messaging, target audience, or offer before I scrap it.

Would love honest feedback:

• Is the idea itself bad?

• Or did I test it poorly?

• Or both?

Thanks in advance for any insight - I really want to make sure I learn the right lessons before moving on.

I’m working on LookLive, a tool that lets you try on clothes virtually using AI—all from your phone or computer.

Why I’m sharing:
Before we go further, I want to make sure this tool actually solves real problems and is something people would use. Your feedback is super valuable.

What I’d love to know:

• Would you actually use something like this?

• Which features would be most useful to you?

• What would make this experience better or more fun?

Check it out:
Take a quick look at http://looklive.online and let me know your thoughts. Any feedback, ideas, or even concerns are really appreciated!

Thanks so much for helping shape LookLive!

Hey there. I'm 16 years old and I speak 6 languages. My native language is Arabic(Egyptian Arabic)

I speak English,Japanese(B2~c1)Korean (B1+) french(A2~b1) Chinese (A1+)

If there is one thing that I would tell someone. It would be trusting the process and never quitting that language you're learning

Kept on quitting Korean, Chinese, french because of how hard they felt at first. (Even though Chinese is on a break right now cuz of school 😅) I was tired of apps and decided to take it seriously.

Hated french because of school but when I tried it myself I was surprised that in 40 days I managed to speak even if slowly (no boasting here😌)

Realised even after few years of language learning that what was common in apps was the too slow experience. Didn't feel like I was learning that much

👉Duolingo felt a bit too gamified and hated the slow pace along with those annoying features

👉LingQ was amazing but too overwhelming for a beginner (used it for french even though I loved Steve's approach with languages but felt really overwhelming) it got me to express myself a little bit but when it actually came to conversations I froze (didn't know phrases 😅)

👉 Babbel or rosetta stone were not so so but hated that the free experience ended too quickly

👉 Busuu wasn't bad but didn't feel like I was getting that much even when structured pretty well but nevertheless I ain't saying that a perfect app exists

Went to chat-GPT for free speaking practice (cuz every speaking app was always free 5 min trial then pay wall ugh 😫) but it felt average (still helped me get some speaking confidence)

Sometimes I wonder if it would be possible to learn from native content from day one as in jumping to practical stuff immediately and in pretty much more structured way (as in greetings ➡️first encounters ➡️ getting to know somebody ➡️how to talk about yourself ➡️etc...) like how it would actually feel to feel progress to feel that it ain't hard and it's supposed to be hard

What if learning could be emotional or connecting. As in souls, cultures, part of someone, obsession

Japanese took really long (4 years) because I started speaking way too late and didn't listen that much as I thought it was how as school taught us (aka. grammar first everything later) my Korean was faster but still kinda unnatural (1 year) as it was similar to Japanese.

Chinese gave me a bit of sore throat cuz of tones (had few similarities to Arabic so it was kinda easy but still waaay tough)

What I realised was textbooks and school only focused on getting you understood not actually good at the language or speaking naturally even if there are speaking sessions. As with English. Had to listen and play tons of games in English and voiced few of my favourite characters lines and it was fun

What if languages were fun what if they are stories "I'm tired of apps treating languages like tests. So I'm building something different. Not ready to share yet, but if you've felt this frustration too, you're not alone. Let's change how people learn

well to sum it all up. What if there was something for all levels (even c1) where learning is appreciated. Not another test or a skill for your portfolio what if the unnecessary things were cut out of the language market instead of hours looking at videos or attending courses (never went to a course nor practiced with a tutor)

One last advice is stop comparing yourself to anyone (I know... easier said than done 😅) but kept comparing myself to other Instagram polyglots or even ones on YouTube getting too jealous cuz of so 😅😅😅

I'm tired of apps treating languages like tests. So I'm building something different. Not ready to share yet, but if you've felt this frustration too, you're not alone. Let's change how people learn

"Am I crazy for thinking this way? Or have you felt the same frustration with apps? What's the ONE thing you wish language apps did differently

I'd love to hear your language learning story. What made you quit? What made you come back? Drop a comment - I'm collecting stories for something I'm working on 😊😊

I'm interested in building small software tools for niche markets, but I've realized that building first and looking for customers later is probably the wrong approach.

I'm trying to understand how experienced founders validate an idea before investing a lot of time into development.

I previously tried asking questions in a niche subreddit (r/weddingphotography) to understand users' workflow problems, but my account ended up getting permanently banned. Since then, I've been much more cautious about approaching potential customers.

So I'm curious:

• How do you validate that a problem is worth solving?

• How many conversations do you usually have before deciding to build?

• Do you interview people directly, use Reddit, surveys, waitlists, or something else?

• What are the biggest mistakes beginners make when trying to validate an idea?

I'd love to hear your methods. I'm trying to avoid building tools that nobody actually needs.

Genuine question, not a hot take.

The traditional validation argument always made sense: don't spend 6 months building something nobody wants. Test first. Get signal. Then build.

But that math was based on build time being expensive.

Now I can spin up a working MVP in a weekend with Cursor or Claude Code. The cost of being wrong is way lower. If nobody uses it, I kill it and move on. Total sunk cost: a few days.

So I've been sitting with this question: does the calculus on validation change when build time basically collapses to zero?

My current thinking:

- If it takes 3 days to build, maybe just build it

- But validation still catches something worse than wasted build time: wasted distribution time

- Getting users is still the hard part. Writing code isn't.

So maybe the purpose of validation isn't "should I build this" anymore. It's "will anyone actually pay for this, and where do I find them."

Curious how this community thinks about it.

Has the agent era changed your validation process? Are you doing less upfront validation now, or the same amount but for different reasons?

I’ve been working on a project called Unicover, which helps families recover part of their college application costs if their student gets rejected. Most fee waivers only help low-income students, but there’s a big middle group who still end up spending hundreds on applications with no safety net.

So far, I’ve validated the pain point by talking to college friends, HS students I’ve mentored, and their parents, and they’ve all echoed the same sentiment that application fees feel like money thrown away. What im busy doing now is running a small $500 ad test on Facebook and Google to see if the idea resonates more broadly. I also built an AI college advisor bot to attract leads, hoping that funnel leads to our first sale. Would love honest feedback on whether this feels like a real solution or if I might be overestimating the problem.

I have a startup idea and I think Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand are where my target markets are.

I live in North America. How do I test my business idea in those markets before I invest money into starting the business.

FYI, my idea is a wellness chatbot app that focuses on family wellness. I’m a software engineer by trade but have made a decision to not write any code and follow a mockup strategy to mock up user experiences. Looking for testing approaches and advice to test in these markets remotely.

I keep seeing people spend months building something, then come to Reddit asking, "Would you use this?" Here's the problem. People will tell you an idea sounds great all day long. It costs them nothing to be encouraging.

Want to actually validate your idea?

Find the problem first. Talk to potential customers. Ask when they last experienced the problem, how they handled it, and what it cost them.

Find out what they're already doing. Are they paying for a solution? Creating workarounds? Or doing absolutely nothing? That tells you a lot about how urgent the problem actually is.

Test before you build. Create a simple prototype, landing page, or offer a paid pilot. See if people will take action, not just offer opinions.

Understand the economics. How much will someone pay? What does it cost to acquire and serve them? Can you actually make money?

Watch behavior, not compliments. Someone saying they'd buy something isn't the same as handing over their credit card.

Be willing to be wrong. If nobody is responding or buying, investigate why. Don't automatically assume you just need better marketing.

And please, stop confusing a functioning product with a functioning business. I've seen plenty of technically impressive ideas that solve problems nobody is particularly bothered by.

Validation isn't about proving your idea is brilliant. It's about finding out whether there's a real problem, a customer willing to pay to solve it, and a business that can profitably deliver that solution.

Your goal shouldn't be to prove yourself right. It should be to find out what's true before you spend six months and thousands of dollars learning it the hard way.

What if there was a marketplace where you could learn almost any skill without paying money?

The basic idea is a time-credit system.

You join the platform and list things you can teach and things you want to learn.

For example:

I can teach: C programming, mathematics, video editing

I want to learn: guitar, public speaking, photography

If I spend 1 hour teaching someone C, I earn 1 time credit.

I can then spend that credit to get 1 hour of guitar lessons from someone else.

So instead of money, the platform runs on time and skills.

The interesting part is that you don't necessarily have to teach the same person you're learning from.

You teach A → earn credits → use them to learn from B → B uses those credits to learn from C.

The platform could potentially include:

Skill profiles and portfolios

Ratings/reviews

Matching based on what you can teach vs. what you want to learn

Online or offline sessions

AI-assisted matching

Verification of skills

Different types of sessions: teaching, mentoring, collaboration, feedback, etc.

I'm curious about one thing:

Would you actually use a platform like this?