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Ask HN: How did you validate your startup?

3 points by JamesBarney ↗ HN
How did you validate your start-up?

I recently quit my job to try and start-up and I'm in the midst of trying to validate the idea, and I wanted to know how did you guys do it?

Did you identify a target market and then call them? If so did you have a list of questions?

Did you just walk into a couple of businesses and ask them questions?

Did you follow a process that you created, or was laid out by someone else?

Also when you found someone to talk to how did you know if the problem was painful enough to charge money for without asking "how much money would you spend on this?"

3 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 20.4 ms ] thread
koslib
We just visited a lot of customers with ready demo's of our product tailored on their business and needs. We persuaded them to test it, and then they all loved it and the majority of them are now our customers. In the future, in order to open a new country market, I'll follow the same tactics.
nnn1234
We did a meta campaign I.e. asked the community to help build the product , the website, test etc
sharemywin
if consumer business you can create a 1 page google survey for $50-$75

or..

1. I created a lead page with a question/pain point/offer.

2. added 3 benefits with 3 bullets each.

3. connected a button from the lead form to a page with a

3 page wufoo.com form.

4. page one click 1 option choice or checkboxes.

5. page 2 enter some information

6. page lead info.

7. used those leads to get an idea if there's a market.

then call or email them back.