Ask HN: How do you validate a product idea before building?
3 Husena 1 7/20/2025, 1:36:37 PM
I spent months building a product that nobody wanted. A classic, painful lesson.
For my next project, I want to avoid this at all costs. My question is: What's your most effective method for validating an idea before writing a significant amount of code?
Not just "cool idea" comments, but real signals of commitment.
I'm considering a platform where founders offer steep lifetime deals to get their first 100 committed users (via email sign-up) before they build. Think of it as a "Kickstarter for SaaS ideas," focused on validation, not funding.
Would you use something like this? What's the most obvious flaw I'm missing?
I'm open to all brutally honest feedback.
So it seems that for this product you're targeting two markets - early-stage founders and a pool of early adopters (who trust this process) at the same time. One without the other = death spiral.
Are you just going to rely on email sign ups? It might show weak intent. Requiring credit cards even if you don't charge or social proof tied to identity like LinkedIn might be more effective
Why use this over just building a landing page and buying FB or Reddit or Twitter ads? People do this to measure interest before building. What’s your clear wedge?
If an idea gets popular on your platform, it will attract attention which is good for validation, but bad for protecting first-mover advantage if everyone can see it. You can limit this by adding a paywall, but it adds friction for early users.
I'm also building something I don't know if anybody even wants. What was it you built that nobody wanted?