Instead of building a full app, creating a compelling video of a unique UI/UX concept and posting it on social media can validate demand. For a calorie tracking app in a saturated market, a viral video showcasing a novel interaction pattern generated an 800-person waitlist, proving product-market fit before significant development.
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A simple concept for a calorie tracking app failed to get traction, but the exact same idea went viral 24 hours later after adding polished animations. This shows that subtle interactions are a key differentiator when basic app creation has become commoditized and can be the difference between failure and success.
Instead of a functional prototype, Mirror's founder raised a seed round with a "smoke and mirrors" version: an animated video behind one-way glass. This focused on selling the *feeling* and brand experience to investors, proving demand before spending capital on complex engineering.
Validate business ideas by creating a fake prototype or wireframe and selling it to customers first. This confirms demand and secures revenue before you invest time and money into development, which the speaker identifies as the hardest part of validation.
Friends provide biased feedback. For a truer market signal, launch a waitlist for your product on a relevant, niche online community like Hacker News. The volume of sign-ups from your target audience provides a far more realistic and valuable measure of initial demand than conversations with your personal network.
To de-risk their unconventional idea, Liquid Death created a fake ad and a Facebook page to test market reception. They secured millions of views and 80,000 followers, proving demand and generating traction that was crucial for raising capital, turning a concept into an investable business.
Instead of waiting for a working product, the founders invested in a conference booth with just screenshots. This early, public validation test, though risky, attracted two crucial prospects who became their first customers. This demonstrated market demand before the product was fully built, a move many founders would avoid.
Crisp.ai's founder advocates for selling a product before it's built. His team secured over $100,000 from 30 customers using only a Figma sketch. This approach provides the strongest form of market validation, proving customer demand and significantly strengthening a startup's position when fundraising with VCs.
Releasing a minimum viable product isn't about cutting corners; it's a strategic choice. It validates the core idea, generates immediate revenue, and captures invaluable customer feedback, which is crucial for building a better second version.
