What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before validating your first idea?
by•
Everyone says “Validate before you build”, but no one tells you what that actually means until you’re deep in it.
Maybe you launched too soon, built too much before talking to anyone, or trusted feedback that sounded nice but meant nothing.
Looking back, what’s one thing you wish someone had told you when you were validating your first idea?
Was it about asking better questions?
Testing the right thing?
Not trusting your cofounder’s cousin?
Asking out of curiosity, and because I’ve been building something that acts like a strategy consultant in your browser (helping structure business plans and challenge assumptions before you go all in).
Would love to learn from your stories.
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Replies
TinyCommand
Oh, I love this question. I wish someone had told me: "Interest ≠ intent."
In my first product cycle, I heard a lot of “This sounds cool!” and assumed that meant we were on the right track. We weren’t. People were being polite. What I really needed was to watch what they did not what they said.
Biggest shift for me was this: instead of asking “Would you use this?”, I started asking “What are you doing right now to solve this problem?” If the answer was “nothing,” that was the signal, not the words.
Validating isn’t about people liking your idea it’s about proving they’re already trying to solve the problem without you.
@priyanka_gosai1 “Interest ≠ intent” needs to be printed on every early founder’s wall.
And “Validation isn’t about people liking your idea, it’s about proving they’re already trying to solve the problem without you” should be a daily push notification.
@priyanka_gosai1 @andreitudor14 loved that line too, never thought of it this way
I wish I was told, "Wait lists mean nothing. The only real validation is people swiping their credit card".
@thebigk “10,000 on the waitlist” feels great until launch day comes and... crickets.
Howdy
I wish someone had told me that "people saying it's a good idea" doesn’t mean they’ll ever pay for it.
I made the mistake of treating compliments as validation. Now I try to get people to take even a tiny action: sign up, pre-order, intro me to someone, before I count their words as validation 😊
@ngorgiashvili Yep, been there too. Compliments or cheers from friends are sneaky 😅
I like your point about asking for a tiny action; it actually makes people move from theory to skin in the game.
Howdy
@andreitudor14 Haha right? 😅 compliments are nice, but they rarely move the needle. Even tiny little action is actually backing you with something real.
@johny_d That’s such a solid point. The difference between “has a problem” and “will actually change behavior to solve it” is massive and easy to underestimate when you're excited about your own idea. I’ve also seen how sometimes the real blocker isn’t even the logic of the solution, but the inertia of the existing process or habit. Especially in B2B, where “how we’ve always done it” is practically a feature already.
@andreitudor14 exactly! there's *a lot* more hand holding to software adoption (especially B2B) than we think/see at the surface
@dennis_dallau I'd say this might just be the best advice.
Great question. Looking back, I wish someone had told me:
“Validation isn’t about proving your idea works — it’s about finding out how fast it breaks.”
When I was working on the first version of what eventually became Growstack, I fell into the classic trap:
Built too much.
Talked to users too late.
Misread politeness as validation.
One big learning: people lie (kindly). Especially when you're passionate, they want to encourage you — not challenge you. What helped us later on was asking for behavior, not opinions. Instead of “Would you use this?” we’d ask:
→ “When was the last time you solved this problem?”
→ “What did you try?”
→ “What did you pay for, if anything?”
Also, validation isn’t just early-stage. We still validate every new feature at Growstack by building no-code or even manual versions first — testing the outcome, not the tech.
So yeah — I wish someone had told me:
Don’t validate your idea. Stress test your assumptions.
Excited to hear more about what you're building — sounds like a tool a lot of founders (including past-me) could use.
For me, it’s that pain is the market. I’m working on a product for influencer marketing, and early on, I realized how painful endless cold outreach and negotiation is for both brands and creators. Validating that pain led us to explore an auction-style platform for video sponsorships, which seemed to resonate right away.