How did you validate the need for your startup product?

We are making a presentation designer. We conducted interviews with business owners and managers. We chose cool colors for modern design. And then, at the interview, we hear from the guys that even though we have a blue color, but the wrong shade. At some point, we started hearing it all the time (often). Now we are making a color picker :)

In the early stages of the startup, we interviewed the target audience to learn more about their needs. Once the product idea was formed, a new feedback collection showed that we were on the right track. But when our MVP was ready and given to users to test, the new feedback collection took us to a new level of product detail and made major adjustments to the overall concept. It showed us that user feedback is the most important part of the whole startup development process. So I would recommend covering every stage of development with a new user feedback survey.

I found Sean Ellis survey pretty useful. When we already had mvp and first customers we implemented Sean Ellis survey in our app. Then reached for interview users who answered that they will be “Somewhat disappointed” if our app will not be available any more. As this category of users feedback is the most valuable for further hypotheses validation

To validate a startup product, talk directly to potential users to confirm the problem exists and is worth solving. Observe people, not just ask.