Idea Validation Checklist

• Can you name your customer by job title, not persona
• Can you describe their last bad week in their words
• Do you know what they Google when the pain hits
• Have you spoken to 15 of them this month
• Do they have budget authority
• A champion internally
• A pattern of buying similar things
• A deadline that makes this urgent
• A penalty for inaction
• A peer who already solved it differently

If you can't tick at least eight, you don't know your customer yet — you know your hope.

• Does your solution cure the pain, or reduce it
• Can the customer describe it back to you
• Does it feel like a vitamin or a painkiller
• Can you deliver it manually before you build it
• Have you pre-sold it
• Is it 10x better than the status quo on at least one dimension
• Do you know which dimension
• Have you priced it against pain, not cost
• Can you explain the value in 12 words

Anything under seven ticks and you're building for yourself, not for them.

• Are you the right person to do this — and can you name two reasons why
• Do you have at least 12 months of runway
• A support system for the hard year ahead
• A clear 'walk-away' number if it doesn't work
• Have you told your partner, in detail, what you're about to do
• Do you have a mentor ahead of you in the journey
• Can you work on this for 3 years without external validation
• Are you doing it for the outcome or the identity

The last question matters most: if it's identity, you'll quit at the first real setback.