The $0 to $1 Validation Checklist

Ideas born from real pain survive. Ideas born from "wouldn't it be cool if..." don't. You need skin in the game or direct access to the people who do.

"I would definitely use that" costs nothing to say. "I'll pay $9.99/month for that" is real signal. Until someone names a price, you don't have validation — you have encouragement.

No competition can mean two things: blue ocean opportunity, or no market. The difference? Search volume. Use Google Trends or Keyword Planner to confirm people are actively looking.

If you need 3 sentences to explain it, your positioning is unclear. If a stranger doesn't immediately think of someone who needs it, your target audience is too broad.

Your differentiation must be grounded in real competitor weakness — not imagined superiority. Spending 30 minutes with a competitor saves you 6 months of building the wrong thing.

If your V1 requires 6 months of development, you're building too much. The best MVPs are embarrassingly simple. The goal is one core feature that delivers the core value — nothing else.

Example: 10,000 target users × 2% conversion × $9.99/mo = $1,998/mo. Is that worth 6 months of work? Do the math before writing code. Most founders skip this and discover the market is too small after building.