Guides to validating a startup idea
Practical, evidence-first guides to validating a startup idea before you build: customer interviews, willingness to pay, warning signs, and worked examples.
A step-by-step method to validate a startup idea: lock the hypothesis, search for disconfirming evidence, talk to buyers, and test payment before you write code.
Customer discovery interview questions that test your ideaAsk about the problem, not your product. Use these customer discovery questions to learn how buyers cope today and whether the problem is worth paying to solve.
How to test willingness to pay before you buildCompliments are free. Learn how to test whether buyers will pay before you build: price reactions, fake-door tests, pre-sales, and paid pilots.
Signs a startup idea is not worth buildingSeven warning signs an idea has not earned your time or money, from crowded categories to unproven mechanisms, and how to tell a pivot from a stop.
Idea validation vs market research: which does your decision need?Idea validation tests one hypothesis and ends in a decision. Market research maps a market. Learn which one your decision needs and when to use both.
Startup idea validation examples: nine sample reports and what they decidedNine Killgate sample validation reports with verdicts: three pass, three pivot, three fail. See what evidence moved each decision.