What it is
Validation checks whether the idea holds up before the expensive part starts. You list your riskiest assumptions, map the alternatives, and run cheap tests: interviews, a landing page, a clickable prototype or a concierge version done by hand.
Why it matters
Building something nobody wants is the most expensive mistake a founder can make. A few weeks of tests can save months of build, and the evidence makes your brief, your pitch and your scope much stronger.
Best practice
- Rank assumptions by risk and test the riskiest first. “People will pay this price” is often the riskiest.
- Count “do nothing” and “a spreadsheet” as competitors. They often win.
- Ask about the problem and past behaviour before you show the product, and count what people do, not what they say.
Prompts for your AI assistant
Each prompt is copied with your notes so far, so the answer fits your product.
Your validate worksheet 0/5
What must be true for this to work? Rank from riskiest to safest.
Direct competitors, substitutes and the workaround people use today.
Interviews, a landing page, a prototype test, pre-orders: what you ran, what counts as a pass and what you found.
What you can do that the alternatives cannot easily copy.
Build, change the idea, or stop: what the evidence says and why.
Feeds your brief: these notes appear in the builder beside Competitors and alternatives, Validation plan.
Open the MVP builderSaved only in this browser on this device. Download a backup from the builder to keep a copy.
Help at the Validate stage
Free tools and guides
Or we build it with you
- Product & UX Design
Prototypes tested with users before the build starts.
- Web Apps & SaaS
Web app and SaaS MVPs with sign-up, payments and admin.
- Launch Marketing & Growth
A waitlist, a launch plan and first users, then growth that repeats.