Idea validation with evidence
Validate a business idea against real customer behaviour — not opinions — before you spend a dollar building it. Here's what idea validation is, how to run it in 5 steps, and why it beats an instant AI score.
4,000+ experiments run · $30M+ saved across 50+ teams
Banked
$68M+
Fund the best, save on the rest.
What is idea validation?
Idea validation is the process of testing a product or business idea against real customer behaviour — clicks, sign-ups, and purchases — before you commit budget to building it. Instead of relying on opinions, surveys, or a gut feel, you run fast, cheap experiments (pretotyping) to answer one question: should we build this? Enterprises that validate first — AGL, PEXA, Tabcorp — have saved $30M+ by killing weak ideas before development.
90%
of new products fail in the market
Harvard Business School / Christensen
$30M+
saved across 50+ enterprise teams that validate before building
Exponentially client results
4,000+
validation experiments run to date
Exponentially
An AI scores your pitch. Validation tests real demand.
Instant AI validators give you an opinion on an idea you typed in. Idea validation gives you real customer behaviour — the evidence a board will fund against. They answer different questions. See how pretotyping produces the evidence →
| Dimension | Evidence-based validation | AI idea scorers |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | Real customer behaviour — clicks, sign-ups, money on the table | An AI model's opinion of the idea you described |
| Who's tested on | Your actual target market, from cold traffic | Nobody — no real users are ever involved |
| What you get | Evidence a board will actually fund against | A score or summary, with no proof of demand |
| Risk it removes | Building something nobody wants | None — the build risk is left untouched |
| Best used for | Deciding whether to commit real money to an idea | Quick directional gut-checks while brainstorming |
How to validate a product idea in 5 steps
Set your pass/fail threshold up front — before you see the result — so the test stays honest. See the 10 pretotyping methods →
Write the hypothesis
State the idea as a falsifiable bet and name the exact audience it's for. Vague ideas can't be tested; sharp ones can.
Set your pass/fail threshold
Decide what evidence would prove demand — and what would kill the idea — before you run anything. Write the number down.
Pick the cheapest test
Choose the pretotyping method (fake door, Pinocchio, mechanical turk) that produces a real demand signal fastest, for the least build.
Run on real customers
Drive representative traffic and capture actions — clicks, sign-ups, pre-orders — not opinions, likes, or friendly thumbs-up.
Decide on the evidence
Compare the result against your threshold and act: fund the idea, iterate the test, or kill it and free the budget.
Idea validation, answered
What is idea validation?
Idea validation is the process of testing a product or business idea against real customer evidence — actual behaviour like clicks, sign-ups, and purchases — before you build it. It replaces opinion and gut feel with fast, cheap experiments that answer one question: should we build this?
How do I validate a product idea?
Write the idea as a testable hypothesis, set a pass/fail threshold for what would prove demand, then run the cheapest pretotyping test that produces a real signal — such as a fake door test — on your actual target audience. Compare the result to your threshold and decide to fund, iterate, or kill the idea based on evidence, not opinions.
What's the difference between idea validation and building an MVP?
Idea validation comes first and tests raw demand — will anyone want this? — usually without building a working product at all. An MVP (minimum viable product) is a real, functional product you build and ship to test whether people will use and pay for it. Validating before building an MVP stops you from engineering something nobody wants.
How long does idea validation take?
A focused validation experiment can produce a clear demand signal in days, not months. Pretotyping methods are designed to be fast and cheap precisely so you can test many ideas quickly and only invest real engineering time in the few that show genuine demand.
Is idea validation the same as an AI idea scorer?
No. AI idea scorers give you an instant opinion on an idea you describe — useful for early brainstorming, but no real customers are involved. Idea validation measures real customer behaviour, which is the evidence a board or investment committee will actually fund against. The two answer different questions: 'does the model like it?' versus 'do real people want it?'
Bring us one idea. We'll tell you if it's worth building.
Twenty minutes with Leslie Barry. We look at one idea on your roadmap, the evidence you already have, and design the test that would validate it. No pitch.