Validation

Many failed products share one expensive cause: they were built for a need that was not urgent enough to pay for. People are polite in conversation and will say they would use almost anything. Survey answers and waitlist sign-ups cost the respondent nothing, so they inflate easily and are best treated as a hint rather than a verdict. Validation moves the question from "would you?" to "will you, now?".

• Pick the riskiest assumption behind the idea. Usually it is whether anyone will pay.
• Design the smallest test that could return an honest no, not a polite maybe.
• Climb a ladder of evidence: interviews, then a sign-up page, then a pre-order or paid pilot.
• Watch what people do, not what they say they would do.
• Agree in advance what result counts as a pass, so the outcome cannot be argued afterwards.

Validation is the work of testing an idea against reality before committing to it. The key word is evidence. A friend saying "sounds great" is not evidence. A stranger paying a deposit, signing a letter of intent or booking a paid pilot is. The more the other person gives up, the more the signal is worth.