How To Test Ideas
Validate in under a month for less than $100
2025 Update: I wrote an updated and more in-depth guide on how to test ideas and build startups.
“Founders” tend to fall into one of two categories: Builders or Sellers.
Builders are engineers and designers.
Sellers are marketers and salespeople.
Builders can learn to sell. Sellers can learn to build.
Most don’t.
Why is “founders” in quotes?
That’s because most “founders” never “launch” anything.
Builders focus on building their products and adding unnecessary features.
They chase “perfection” and don’t find it… resulting in never launching.
And if they do launch, they rarely get customers.
They get so locked into building— that they forget they are building for real people.
Sellers on the flip side, focus on sales strategies and pitch decks…
For a product that doesn’t even exist and they can’t build!
Most investors understand these pitfalls.
They invest in startups that have at least one builder and one seller.
So, how do you test an idea?
First, you have to look in the mirror.
Are you naturally a builder or a seller?
Once you know the answer to this, the next question becomes:
How do you cover your weakness?
After you look in the mirror, the next step is finding a problem you want to solve.
Preferably a problem you and others you know have.
Then you build a solution— fast.
It takes less than two weeks and $100 to build a minimum viable product(MVP).
Release your product and find customers for free with cold outreach.
Cold emailing and walking up to people on the street who would be interested.
Your build cycle should be two weeks— and your sales cycle should be two weeks.
Two weeks “in the lab” and two weeks “in the field”.
Meaning: You should test an idea every month— for under $100.
The only real validation is people paying for your product.
If you reach out to 100 people and no one pays you— you have to find out why.
There are 3 reasons why people don’t pay you:
Do people really have the problem?
Is it a quality issue? The problem is real, people are willing to pay for it, but you are missing something in your solution.
To find out if the problem is real— find people who have it.
To find out if people will pay for it— experiment with pricing.
To find out if it’s a quality issue— listen to customers.
They will ask: “Does your product have ____?”
Great founders who have been at it for ten years have hit rates between 5-10%.
Under 5% of ideas that you test will hit. 95%+ will die.
Maybe you’re lucky and get a hit in the first year…
But, it normally takes 2-3 years to get your first hit, with your odds increasing over time.
When you hit— you’ll know because people will pay for your product immediately.
Once you get a hit: Do not hire. Spend as little money as possible.
Spending money decreases your ability to change strategy.
Only hire when your current revenue covers your new hire— assuming zero growth and your current NRR.
Then scale from there, always chasing answers to two questions:
How can I expand the number of people willing to pay for my product?
How can I charge people more?
This will lead you to develop new sales strategies, features, and even new products!
It all starts with looking into the mirror and asking:
What problems need solving in the world?