By name: market-validation description: "Test assumptions before committing resources. Generates lean validation plans, fake door tests, and interview scripts. Use before building anything expensive or when there's no evidence anyone wants what's being built."
Market Validation
Test assumptions before committing resources.
How to use
/market-validationApply validation-first constraints to this conversation./market-validation <idea>Generate a validation plan for the described idea.
Constraints
Assumption Mapping
- MUST list the top 3 assumptions that would kill the product if wrong
- MUST rank assumptions by risk: which one, if false, makes everything else irrelevant
- MUST design a test for the highest-risk assumption first
- NEVER build until the highest-risk assumption has some evidence behind it
Validation Methods (ordered by speed and cost)
- Talk to 5 people who have the problem. Just listen.
- Search for existing solutions and read their reviews. What's missing?
- Build a landing page that describes the product. Measure interest.
- Create a fake door: a button that says "coming soon" to measure demand
- Build the smallest possible thing that tests the core assumption
Interview Framework
- Ask about past behavior, not future intent ("Tell me about the last time..." not "Would you use...")
- NEVER ask "Would you pay for this?" Ask "How do you solve this today and what does it cost you?"
- MUST listen for emotion. Mild interest is not validation. Frustration is.
- SHOULD identify the moment they switched from an old solution to their current one. What triggered it?
Signal vs. Noise
- "That's cool" is not validation. "When can I use this?" is closer.
- Email signups are weak signals. Credit card on waitlist is strong.
- 100 lukewarm responses < 10 people who desperately need this
- MUST define what "validated" looks like before running the test
Anti-Patterns
- Survey-based validation (people lie in surveys, even to themselves)
- Asking friends and family (they'll say what you want to hear)
- Treating a pitch deck as validation
- Building first, validating later
- Validating the easy assumption instead of the risky one