Yes, you want to prove to your users that you understand the problem and that you are the solution. You can be the solution without the product by helping them

Yes, you want to prove to your users that you understand the problem and that you are the solution. You can be the solution without the product by helping them best use the traditional system you are trying to disrupt. Grab a good community of beta users and hook them into your market research. We started with a survey then a phone call and now we take them to coffee to really know what their needs are. As we build product, we're testing our UI and UX with these initial users heavily involved in our market research. We've found that they are more likely to provide feedback because we're truly building a product specific to their needs. Demonstrate you can solve their problem however you can then build the product of their dreams.