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Two words: External validation. Ask your friends, ask in forums, do surveys, or even run Adsense campaigns to static landing pages just to see how the click thr

Two words: External validation. Ask your friends, ask in forums, do surveys, or even run Adsense campaigns to static landing pages just to see how the click through rates are (Tim Ferris style). Sure, this is not 100% bullet proof (what people think they want vs. what the actually want) and the results can be misinterpreted, but it's still more likely to succeed than just building whatever you think is cool.

einhverfr 13y ago
"Would you pay $X for this useful little app?" doesn't work so well though because there is the judgement/action gap. External validation doesn't work as well as we might think. Much better advice in my view is this: Identify a problem and build a solution to that problem.
- Swizec 13y ago
  And confirm people will pay $X for it before you spend two years of your life and your life savings and your parents' savings and your friends' savings. Payment from real live users/clients/customers is external validation too.
  - einhverfr 13y ago
    > And confirm people will pay $X for it before you spend two years of your life and your life savings and your parents' savings and your friends' savings. Which you can't fully do until you or someone else is offering it. > Payment from real live users/clients/customers is external validation too. Which you can't do until you have something to offer. What you can do is this: 1) What is the problem you are trying to solve? 2) How annoying is that problem? The more annoying the better. 3) What is minimally needed to solve the problem? I think if you focus on that process, on building minimalistic solutions and then trying to get customers who can help you take things further, that this can work. However, I don't think you can effectively do market research on something that doesn't exist yet.
    - run4yourlives 13y ago
      Which you can't fully do until you or someone else is offering it. Bullshit. Companies do this all the time. Hey ABCorp, it looks like filing is a major nightmare for you, would you be interested if in working with me to find a solution for your problem? Would you be willing to commit to paying for something if I built it? What would you think is a fair price? Etc etc. The mere act of having this conversation is the validation you are looking for. If things go really well, they may actually help you fund it prior to you being live, in exchange for a discount/preferred status etc. Advance commitments happen all the time, you just need to take the right approach and actually listen to what people are saying.
      - einhverfr 13y ago
        But you still have the judgement/action gap. What you describe is maybe a piece of the puzzle, but it isn't a piece to take too seriously, and it is no substitute for understanding a problem and developing a decent solution to that problem.

einhverfr 13y ago

"Would you pay $X for this useful little app?" doesn't work so well though because there is the judgement/action gap. External validation doesn't work as well as we might think. Much better advice in my view is this: Identify a problem and build a solution to that problem.

Swizec 13y ago
And confirm people will pay $X for it before you spend two years of your life and your life savings and your parents' savings and your friends' savings. Payment from real live users/clients/customers is external validation too.
- einhverfr 13y ago
  > And confirm people will pay $X for it before you spend two years of your life and your life savings and your parents' savings and your friends' savings. Which you can't fully do until you or someone else is offering it. > Payment from real live users/clients/customers is external validation too. Which you can't do until you have something to offer. What you can do is this: 1) What is the problem you are trying to solve? 2) How annoying is that problem? The more annoying the better. 3) What is minimally needed to solve the problem? I think if you focus on that process, on building minimalistic solutions and then trying to get customers who can help you take things further, that this can work. However, I don't think you can effectively do market research on something that doesn't exist yet.
  - run4yourlives 13y ago
    Which you can't fully do until you or someone else is offering it. Bullshit. Companies do this all the time. Hey ABCorp, it looks like filing is a major nightmare for you, would you be interested if in working with me to find a solution for your problem? Would you be willing to commit to paying for something if I built it? What would you think is a fair price? Etc etc. The mere act of having this conversation is the validation you are looking for. If things go really well, they may actually help you fund it prior to you being live, in exchange for a discount/preferred status etc. Advance commitments happen all the time, you just need to take the right approach and actually listen to what people are saying.
    - einhverfr 13y ago
      But you still have the judgement/action gap. What you describe is maybe a piece of the puzzle, but it isn't a piece to take too seriously, and it is no substitute for understanding a problem and developing a decent solution to that problem.