

Is startup validation bullshit? - jejune06
http://thedannorris.com/is-startup-validation-bullshit/

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mindcrime
Is validation bullshit? No. Can you "validate" the wrong things (measure the
wrong metrics) and make yourself believe that you have real validated learning
when you don't? Absolutely.

If you read _The Four Steps To The Epiphany_ you'll note that @sgblank really
emphasizes the importance of getting someone to actually _give you money_. For
many (most?) classes of products, you don't have _any_ validated learning
whatsoever unless someone has given you money for the product/service you're
building (if you're going for an ad supported model, then all bets are off.
That space doesn't interest me, and I don't think about it).

Beta signups? If they're free (and you intend to charge for the "real"
version), they don't really count as validated learning. They're _suggestive_
maybe, but they don't validate "somebody will pay money for this X". Email
list signups? Useful, suggestive, but _not_ validated learning. Twitter
followers, G+ followers, Facebook likes, and six tons of email from people who
aren't in your target market, or who haven't paid you any money yet? Might be
useful, but not validated learning from where I'm sitting.

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27182818284
The problem I always have with the validation stuff is that it often leads me
down a road where I'm doing something I don't want to do or unimaginitve. In
other words, it often leads to the apocryphal quote of Ford "If I had asked
people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

As I continue working with validation and such, I'm beginning to feel like the
most successful are simply those who know when to slow down and validate and
when to hit the gas and follow their vision. Too much of either leads to a
crash.

