Germán Merlo

Build Check - Is your app idea actually worth building?

A free quiz for outsiders and vibe coders. Score your app idea across 6 dimensions and find out if it's worth building — before you spend weeks on it.

Add a comment

Replies

Best
Germán Merlo

👋 Hey Product Hunt!

I’m German. I build a lot, I learn a lot, and I’ve noticed a massive shift.

The "Outsiders" are coming. Managers, lawyers, and even employees who see real problems but don’t know if their solution makes sense as a product. I’ve answered the "Should I build this?" question 100+ times this year.

So, I vibecoded a 'solution'.

Build Check is a <2min filter designed to help you stop overthinking and start shipping. It’s not a complex business consultant; it’s a gut-check for your idea.

Why I built this:

- The Idea Maze: Most people quit because they don't know where to start.
- Personal Utility: I use it myself to filter the "magic" ideas from the profitable ones.

- Launch lessons: I'm sharing all the process so everybody can know about it.

Who it’s for:

The domain experts. The people in sales, law, accounting or whatever who found a "pain" but need a tech-roadmap to solve it. Now they can make it real through AI but sometimes it's nonsense.

What's next:

- Matchmaking: Connecting ideas with the right coaches or devs.

- Benchmarking: Researching competitors and industry leaders.

- ICP Snapshot: one paragraph describing the ideal first user

- Domain selling: After some suggestion, linking with platforms like Godaddy, Cloudlfare.
- Actionable Guides: Tailored playbooks based on your specific industry.
- Validation experiment: a single 48-hour experiment to run before writing a line of code.
- Gurus' validation: Tech influencers giving feedback to beginners.

I built this for saving my time, but I’m realizing the impact it has for those outside the "bubble."

It's 100% FREE - not looking for profit.

Would love your feedback—what’s your buildability score? 🚀

Maya Elor

@german_merlo1 Do you see people actually dropping ideas after the quiz, or is it more of a confidence check?

Germán Merlo

@maya_elor honestly still analyzing data! But there're a lot of cool info. I feel they're truly finding it useful

swati paliwal

@german_merlo1 Congratulations. What's one "magic" idea you've personally greenlit with it that surprised you?

@german_merlo1 Love this.

Feels like a much-needed filter for the “should I build this?” loop. The <2 min format is 🔥

Congrats on the launch!

Germán Merlo

@victoria_wu thanks Victoria! Yeah, like the format cause it have to be quick and simple. I'll try to keep it in that way despite the improvements added

Aleksandar Blazhev

Nice launch! Which model scores the idea, and on what criteria across the 6 dimensions?

Germán Merlo

@byalexai currently the score isn't AI — it's deterministic. Your answers to the 12 questions map directly to points across 6 dimensions (10 pts each, 60 total). AI only kicks in after your score to generate the competitor benchmark, ICP snapshot, next steps, and validation experiment. Given the feedback I'm getting here, I have several ideas to improve it

Konstantin Alikhanov

Great idea but how do you score each dimension? Did you build own algorithm or rely on AI? From business point though, are you planning to monetise this app (because for me it's hard to understand how you can build recurring revenue here)? Congrats for launch and good luck!

Germán Merlo

@konstantinalikhanov Currently it's a mix of my own algorithm and AI analysis. Are 12 simple dimensions and are too simple to answer (and understand). As I said it's a quick first filter.

There're several ways to get it monetized. Linking coaches with builders, tech stack suggestions (promoted), launchpads, and so on

Konstantin Alikhanov

@german_merlo1 ok makes sense, because it's not a classical SaaS subscription model, most people will come just several times, before they select and stick to one idea.

Janne Vakkilainen
Nice I'll for sure try this when I've got more time on my hands! If something is a totally novel idea with no "prior art" how is the answer derived in that case?
Germán Merlo

@janne_vakkilainen probably the answer will be you need to go and validate if demand actually exists! But I'll keep thinking on different options to face that situation

Janne Vakkilainen
@german_merlo1 Yeah that's a complex task for sure. I'll give it a spin
Rohan Chaubey

Many congrats, Germán, on the Vercel Day launch!

I’ve seen so many new makers struggle with whether an idea is worth building, and this gives them a clear, structured way to decide what to do next.

One suggestion: you could add a bit more guidance on next steps, like linking out to specific tools, resources, or no-code stacks that solo builders can use to actually start building, so they can follow a simple path from insight to action.

This has the potential to evolve into a really compelling product that takes people from idea, to validation, to building, and finally to launch, almost like a guided journey for makers turning their expertise into products.


Excited to see where you take this. :)

Germán Merlo

@rohanrecommends absolutely Rohan! it was a very cool first approach and it can be improved in many fields. Thanks for the feedback and support! You're the best

Nika

Cool! Where do you want to deliver your quizes? (I mean any aspiration to pub quizes, schools etc?) :)

Germán Merlo

@busmark_w_nika Yeap! would love to introduce this kind of framework on schools but I'm not sure if would work. For now, I added an embed option to make it accessible everywhere

Saad El Gueddari

the outsiders angle is real like half the best products come from someone who got tired of a problem at their day job.

but the "should i build this" question is usually cope, people who ship don't need a filter they need a deadline. curious if a high score actually predicts shipping, or just makes people feel smarter about sitting on the idea

Germán Merlo

@saad_el_gueddari aren't predicting shipping, just a quick filter for now. I'll keep working on the directions the feedback tells me

silvap.javier

Went in skeptical, came out with 3 concrete things to do this week on my idea. That's a win.

Germán Merlo

@silva_pabloj thanks man! tbh I went skeptical too but builders are finding it useful. I'll work on that way!

Neel Patel 🦕

Looks like very useful for indiehackers/builders :) @german_merlo1

Germán Merlo

@neelptl2602 thanks Neel! Hope it's truly useful so I can keep improving it.

Konrad S.
💡 Bright idea

Can sure be helpful for a lot of people! The questions look sensible to me. I'd add doing a comprehensive web search to check if a tool that can solve the problem does exist already.

Germán Merlo

@konrad_sx thanks! Loved it. I'll work on that way

123
Next
Last