Validation is a mirage
solution, and filling in the design details. Many practitioners wouldadd a fifth step: validation, testing the effectiveness of a solution with users. This is part of a discipline widely known as usability.
Alan Cooper • About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
I noticed four distinct paths to effectively validating a startup idea:
- The do-it-manually path: Don’t build anything—solve the problem manually first, for a small number of companies
- The listening path: First talk to tons of potential users, and then start building
- The prototype path: Start building a prototype and then co-create it with a small n
Lenny Rachitsky • How to validate your B2B startup idea
#ExplosiveGrowthTip 6: Learn how to validate an idea with as little time and financial investment as possible. Do you have a plan to validate your ideas cheaply?
Cliff Lerner • Explosive Growth: A Few Things I Learned While Growing My Startup To 100 Million Users & Losing $78 Million
Here’s what pain and pull look like in practice:
- People pay you money: Several people start to (or offer to) pay for your early product, ideally people you don’t have a direct connection to.
- Strong emotion: You’re hearing hatred for the incumbents (i.e. pain) or a deep and strong emotional reaction to your idea (i.e. pull).
- Cold inbound interest: Y