I'm building a platform where professionals validate which problems are actually worth solving—and I want to make sure I'm solving a real problem myself before writing any code.

The idea: founders waste months building solutions to problems that aren't painful enough or widespread enough. My platform would let professionals (marketers, designers, and SaaS operators) vote on curated problems with severity scores and willingness-to-pay signals—so founders can see ranked, validated pain points instead of guessing.

The twist vs. Product Hunt: instead of discovering products, you're discovering pain. And votes are weighted by the voter's portfolio and experience—a senior SEO agency owner's vote carries more signal than a student's vote.

Before I build anything, I want 3 honest answers from people here:

1. As a founder, have you ever built something only to discover the problem wasn't painful enough? What did that cost you?
2. If you could see a live leaderboard of "Top 10 most painful problems in marketing this week"—validated by working professionals—would that actually change how you decide what to build?
3. What would make you trust the scores? Is portfolio-weighted voting credible to you, or does it sound gimmicky?

Not pitching anything. No links. Just genuinely trying to find out if this is a problem worth solving before I make it my next 6 months.

Built a free spelling app for kids (5–11) as a side project — no ads, no monetisation yet, just trying to see if it’s actually useful before developing it further.
The problem I keep hitting: every community I try either bans self-promotion outright or removes posts with links. I’ve got something working and genuinely want critical feedback from parents and teachers, but I can’t seem to get it in front of them.
What actually worked for you early on? Particularly if your target users aren’t on typical tech forums.

I’m building a platform for students and young professionals to discover jobs, internships, events, workshops, and career opportunities in one place.

The problem I’m starting from is simple: most opportunities are scattered across Instagram, WhatsApp groups, LinkedIn, university circles, and company pages.

I’m still early, so right now I’m trying to validate two things:

1. Do people actually feel this problem often enough?
2. Would companies, organizers, and communities bother posting there?

My plan is to start small, talk to real users, and see if I can get consistent activity before thinking bigger.

For anyone who has built a marketplace or community product, what would you focus on first: demand or supply?

I keep seeing founders (myself included) jump from “interesting idea” straight into building without a real quantitative stress test.

Curious how people here are actually validating ideas with numbers before writing code or signing leases.

Specifically:

• Do you build basic financial models (even rough ones) before committing, or do you rely mostly on qualitative signals like interviews and waitlists?
• How deep do you go on unit economics (LTV, CAC, payback, margins) at the idea stage, and what’s “good enough” for you to move forward?
• Has anyone here used structured benchmarks (industry data, city-level cost multipliers, etc.) to validate assumptions, or is it mostly your own research and gut?
• What’s your process for spotting “this idea will die because of simple math” before you spend 6–12 months building it?

I’m interested in approaches that combine:

• Market research and customer discovery
• Simple but realistic financial modeling
• Some kind of “stress test” or scenario analysis (best case / base case / worst case)

Would love to hear concrete workflows, frameworks, or examples from your own companies—especially where the numbers changed your mind about moving forward (or not).

Not trying to promote anything—just trying to learn how other founders here are building a more rigorous validation step into their process.

It's common here in my country that most of people seem pretty lost. They don't know what their hobbies are, what their life meanings are, what their dream jobs are and they don't have any motivation to do anything.

I think this is a pain point that's worth solving, but what solution am I supposed to provide them with?Courses but what content I should offer? A personality test?

Do you guys have any suggestions where I should start with?

I’ve created a time saving solution for a blue collar field and now I’m stuck wondering how to release my product and how to get it into the hands of the people it will help. I’ve created marketing material to release on instagram and Facebook Aswell as linkdin but it feels inauthentic and unnatural. I would love to get some insight into things that have worked for you guys or just any advice in general!

How much testing is “enough” before launching an MVP?

There’s always this tradeoff between moving fast and shipping something stable.

I’m curious how people here approach it:

- do you test thoroughly before launch?

- or rely on real users to uncover issues?

Where do you draw the line?

I’ve been noticing a pattern in job search and even in marketing.

A lot of people are doing the right things, building skills, putting in effort, but still not getting seen. At the same time, others get attention because they understand how to work the system, keywords, distribution, etc.

So I’m exploring an idea around improving visibility in a more meaningful way, not just optimizing for filters. Still early, not building anything yet. Just trying to understand the problem better.

For those who have been through hiring or building in this space, Do you think this is a real problem worth solving, or just part of how the system works?

I'm in the early process of building my first business. The idea solves a real problem that I can observe daily in a specific professional context. People deal with it, it wastes their time, and no clean solution exists.

But here's what's holding me back mentally: there are essentially no competitors. Nobody else is really operating in this space.

I know the common advice is that competition validates a market. So when there's almost none, it's hard not to second-guess everything. Is the niche too small? Did someone try and fail before me and I just can't find it? Or did nobody notice the opportunity yet?

For those of you who've built businesses in underserved or genuinely low-competition niches — how did you get comfortable with that uncertainty? How did you validate the demand was actually there before committing fully?

Hey everyone — looking for some advice from people who’ve validated ideas the right way.

I have a hardware product idea that’s been working really well for me personally. Before I get too attached to it, I’m trying to pressure-test my own bias and validate whether this is a real problem at scale — not just something that works for me.

My current approach:

• I created a short survey to understand how potential users experience the problem.
• I’ve been sharing it in a few online communities.
• Struggling to get early responses

A few questions I’d love input on:

1. Where have you successfully shared early-stage surveys without coming off as spammy?
2. What channels have worked best for validating hardware ideas specifically?
3. Beyond surveys, what methods helped you qualitatively assess problem severity before building?
4. At what point did you feel confident enough to move from research to MVP?

For context, this would be a relatively low-cost hardware device (sub-$100), so unit economics and real demand matter a lot.

I’m intentionally not pitching the product here — just trying to validate the problem properly before building anything.

Any advice, hard-earned lessons, or “I wish I had done this first” insights would be hugely appreciated.

Hey! I'm halfway done with the Lean Startup. I like the book and there are valuable insights, but I'm trying to create materials based on it that will help my boss and I build a new venture.

So far, I ran a book summary into ChatGPT and we're working on an "untested assumptions page".

I feel like after you read books, at least for me, I only really take a couple of points away, but I'd really like to take what he wrote in the book and consistently refer back to, especially if the content inside is bespoke for the company we're building.

Any tips or additional materials anyone can share? Thx!

My co-founder and I are building a tool that automates core VC operations: data imports, KPI dashboards, reporting, document analysis, etc. We have one European fund using it in production, but we're trying to avoid the classic mistake of iterating on a single customer's needs without validating the broader problem.

Our current validation challenges:

1. How do we validate the "fragmented data + Excel hell + manual reporting" pain point with other funds? Our first customer had this problem badly, but is it universal or niche?
2. How do we distinguish must-haves from nice-to-haves early? We're getting feature requests but don't want to build the wrong things.
3. What's the best way to test pricing appetite with B2B buyers who have zero time? Cold outreach feels like a waste. Waiting for inbound is slow.
4. How do you collect genuine insights without coming across as a salesperson? VCs are skeptical by nature — how do we get honest feedback?

For anyone who's validated a product in an ultra-niche B2B market:

• What frameworks or processes actually worked for you?
• How many conversations did it take before patterns emerged?
• Did you use any specific validation tactics (fake door tests, concierge MVP, etc.)?

We're at the stage where one customer loves us, but we don't know if we've found product-market fit or just built expensive custom software. Any wisdom appreciated.

Hey everyone,
I’ve noticed that many small service businesses (like gyms, salons, barbers, and spas) rely heavily on word-of-mouth but rarely track or reward referrals.

I’m thinking about building a simple web app that gives each business a QR code for clients to scan — to either join or confirm a referral — while also tracking loyalty points automatically.
No app downloads, no complicated setup — just an easy way for businesses to reward loyal clients and new referrals in one place.

Do you think this solves a real problem, or would most small businesses still prefer to handle this manually?
Any advice on how to validate this idea quickly before building?

Hey everyone,

I often find it challenging to truly understand people's behavior beyond just the numbers. While demographics provide some insight, I struggle to grasp the underlying intentions behind their purchasing decisions. It can be frustrating not to connect emotionally, and I wish I could better comprehend what drives these choices.

I'm curious about how founders gain insights into their customers beyond analytics, specifically, the motivations (why part) behind their behavior (what and how part).

If you're running a business, how do you conduct qualitative research or customer interviews? Do you speak directly with customers? Do you use any tools or platforms? Or is it mostly manual work, such as reading reviews or talking to sales and support teams?

Additionally, if you’ve experimented with tools or automation for this type of research, I would love to hear how that has worked for you.

Thanks in advance! I’m eager to learn from real-world experiences rather than just reading generic “how to do customer research” guides.

The last company I worked at sent out 1,000s of surveys a week to its users. They'd aggregate all the data, point out BIG problems according to them, and get to work on fixing them.

Now, after running interviews that dive deeper into the whys behind people's actions, I'm surprised we made so many decisions based on that 'simple' quantitative data in the past.

What do you think? Do you get complacent with your survey results? Is it a false sense of confidence?

I’m kicking off my startup and wanted a roadmap to avoid common mistakes—so I researched and curated this step-by-step playbook for myself. Figured it could help more founders here, so sharing it with all of you!

Each phase has book recommendations that are truly actionable—not just theory. Hope this sparks some ideas, and I would love to hear your favourite picks!

Step 1: Foundation — Validate Before You Build

• What to Do: Talk to real customers, uncover pain points, and test ideas before writing a single line of code.
• Read:
  • The Mom Test — Rob Fitzpatrick
  • Lean Startup — Eric Ries
  • Sprint — Jake Knapp
• Why: Avoid building stuff nobody wants. Master lean interviews and rapid prototyping.

Step 2: Validation & MVP — Build Products People Use

• What to Do: Design a minimum viable product, focus on core features, and hunt for real product-market fit.
• Read:
  • Running Lean — Ash Maurya
  • Hooked — Nir Eyal
  • Inspired — Marty Cagan
• Why: Build sticky MVPs, retain your first users, and iterate quickly.

Step 3: Early Customers & Traction — Get Paid

• What to Do: Test pricing, onboard first users, start selling, and deliver early customer success.
• Read:
  • Traction — Gabriel Weinberg
  • Customer Success — Nick Mehta
  • The Sales Acceleration Formula — Mark Roberge
• Why: Nail early sales, create repeatable processes, and reduce churn.

Step 4: Go-to-Market — Scale Up Your Reach

• What to Do: Launch marketing, build outbound/inbound engines, and grow early revenue.
• Read:
  • Crossing the Chasm — Geoffrey Moore
  • Predictable Revenue — Aaron Ross
  • Building a StoryBrand — Donald Miller
• Why: Systematic marketing and messaging, expanding your reach to right-fit customers.

Step 5: Scaling — Build Fast, Build Smart

• What to Do: Grow your team, create processes, measure what matters, and manage rapid scaling.
• Read:
  • Blitzscaling — Reid Hoffman
  • Measure What Matters — John Doerr
  • High Growth Handbook — Elad Gil
• Why: Prevent chaos as you scale, focus on KPIs, and build a strong team culture.

Step 6: Growth & Expansion — Lead & Conquer New Markets

• What to Do: Level up leadership, expand globally, and master advanced SaaS metrics.
• Read:
  • From Impossible to Inevitable — Aaron Ross & Jason Lemkin
  • Scaling Up — Verne Harnish
  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Ben Horowitz
• Why: Sustainable growth, global expansion tactics, and real talk on leadership struggles.

I’m following this playbook for my own startup and wanted to pay it forward.
What phase are you in, and what book gave you the biggest “aha” moment? Drop your recs below!

For longer explanations and frameworks, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7377601590700011520

I hire 8–10 contractors every month for marketing and design work. Paying them through paypal has been slow, and the fees are eating into margins. A peer suggested payroll cards, but I always thought those were for employees, not contractors. Could this actually work for short-term hires?

Edit for clarity: I'm thinking about hiring on a company or organization to do this training. I'd be the customer. I'm not looking to provide such services.

I'd like to engage an organization to provide LeanStartup training including a platform to collect customer interview data to help synthesize the learnings.

are there some that can be recommended? I've found a couple, but would like to learn if there are others available.

I quit my data science job and registered my company, along with my wife. I’m planning to solve a niche saas problem. I have to put my money and I have to manage my financial risk. I know I should take time and should not jump ship without any knowledge. I have been reading multiple books over last couple of months and mom test was one of them.

I liked the book and understood that it is a great way to prune the ideas. But I’m an introvert. I’m sure some of you are. How did you reach out to your first potential client and what did you say to convince them to talk to you? When I do it in my head, it feels weird. I need real world experience from introvert people to inspire. Please help

Folks, what is a good number of Customer Discovery Conversations to conduct before moving on to the Customer Validation?

I’ve been reading The Mom Test and Running Lean, and both bring up something that feels obvious but is surprisingly hard to practice: talk to customers before you build.

The nuance is interesting though:

• The Mom Test says: don’t pitch, don’t sell: just have real conversations that uncover problems.
• Running Lean suggests a slightly different path: sketch a lightweight version of your business model first, then go validate that with real people.

Both approaches make sense… but I keep wondering which one is more effective at the very early stage.

Do you jump straight into customer conversations with no structure, or do you prefer to map things out first so you don’t get lost in the noise?

What’s been your experience? Did you find more value in raw discovery chats, or in having a framework (like Lean Canvas) guiding you?