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🔍Stage 02

Validate Your Idea

Test demand before writing a single line of code.

8 lessons18 operating guides

Lessons

Expand any topic for concept, action steps, and pro tips.

Concept

Worth-solving problems are frequent, urgent, expensive (money or time), and owned by someone with budget or authority.

Why it matters

Interesting problems entertain founders. Expensive problems fund companies.

Action steps

  1. 1Shadow or interview 5 people in the workflow; list moments of swearing or spreadsheet hell.
  2. 2Estimate annual cost of the status quo for one customer.
  3. 3Check whether a budget line already exists (tools, agencies, headcount).
  4. 4Prefer problems that reoccur weekly over annual ‘strategy’ pain.

Done when

You can quantify the problem’s cost for at least one real account.

Metrics

  • · $ or hours wasted / month
  • · Frequency
  • · Number of people affected

Anti-patterns

  • · Building for yourself only without check for willingness to pay
Operator tip

Follow the money already being spent on workarounds — that’s your pricing ceiling signal.

Tools
NotionCal.comLinkedIn

Stage quiz

Validation readiness

5 questions · pass at 70%

  1. 1.In customer discovery you should mostly:

  2. 2.Strongest demand signal:

  3. 3.TAM/SAM/SOM should prefer:

  4. 4.A landing-page test needs:

  5. 5.Competition includes:

Answer all questions to score.

Related case studies

Stack for this stage

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