How to validate your startup idea


You’ve been sitting on that idea for a while. That idea that can change the world. You keep wondering what if. What if I don’t try this. It drives you a little nuts.

You have to give it a try. You have to build this thing.

But you don’t want to spend a bunch of resources building something no one wants.

Here are some simple steps to lower the chances of doing that and instead making sure you give this thing your best swing.

  1. Distill your entire product down to 1–2 features. Your first version should be a feature instead of a product. Figure out what 1 feature summarizes the entire product.
  2. Build your first version. Build something so simple and basic, something that covers that 1 feature. Something that validates the hypothesis of your idea.
  3. Push it out there right away. Don’t spend time cleaning it up and making it awesome. You have to get it out there. Don’t be embarrassed or apologetic. Just toss it out there.
  4. Aggressively market the heck out of it for 3 months. Post about it in every forum you can find. Annoy all your friends and family. Do the most random things, the most unconventional things to get the word out there.
  5. Measure the results. Were you able to get a good 500 users? Are people coming back to use the product again? Are your users enthusiastic? After 3 months, you should have some basic feeling on whether this thing is gonna float or not.


If you feel like it’s doing good, congrats! You know this is something people want/need. Now you can slowly add features that your enthusiastic users want, and that will actually make the product more awesome. Good days are ahead 🙂

If you feel like it’s not doing good, give yourself a pat on the back. You had the guts to give this thing a try. Now you aren’t wondering what if. You learned a great deal of things. The next swing you’ll take will be more accurate. Good days are still ahead 🙃

Remember, it’s all a game of trial and error. You have to pace yourself through the good and bad. You have to remain optimistic and persistent. You have to keep trusting that good days are ahead. May you find greatness in your endeavors 🙏🏞

Have a good app idea you wanna build? Get your product roadmap.