The way I think of this is validating the problem before investing any time in building a solution. It's surprisingly easy to build something that no one wants

The way I think of this is validating the problem before investing any time in building a solution. It's surprisingly easy to build something that no one wants. This is because it's easy to build something that doesn't solve a real problem. For reasons that I still can't figure out, we're very good at fooling ourselves about what are real problems that people experience. Now when I have a new idea, I force myself to dwell on the question, "What is the cheapest way I can validate that the problem I'm solving is real?" You did that with an ugly prototype and a video. That's quite cheap. Maybe you could've even done it with no product at all!