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A 28-Day System for Validating Business Ideas (Before You Build Anything)

I've been building for years, and I've seen the same pattern play out dozens of times: a founder gets excited about an idea, builds something amazing, and then struggles to find customers who need it.

It's not because they're bad at building. It's because the market feedback came too late.

I've been there myself. It's easy to fall in love with a solution and assume the problem is obvious. But assumptions are expensive.

So I built a system to get market feedback earlier. Test the idea before you commit serious time and capital. Get real signal in 28 days or less.

Here's how it works.

The Four-Phase Framework

Phase 1: Problem Clarity (Days 1-3)

Before you talk to anyone, get crystal clear on what you're actually solving:

  • The Problem (1-2 sentences max)
  • Who Has It (Be specific. "CTOs" isn't specific enough. "CTOs at pre-Series A B2B SaaS companies with 5-15 person engineering teams" is better.)
  • Why Now (What's the pain costing them today?)
  • Current Solution (What are they doing instead? That's your real competition.)

Write this down. If you can't articulate it clearly, you're not ready for Phase 2.

This is basically defining your core assumptions—what Eric Ries in The Lean Startup calls your "leap of faith" hypotheses. The ones that, if wrong, mean your whole business doesn't work.

Phase 2: Customer Validation (Days 4-14)

This is where the real learning happens. The goal is simple: talk to humans who have the problem.

The Process:

  • Reach out to 10-15 people in your target segment (LinkedIn, email, warm intros)
  • Get 5-8 actual conversations
  • Ask open-ended questions: "How do you handle [problem] today?" "What does that cost you?" "Would you pay for something better?"

The Key: Listen for their language. Do they light up when you describe the problem? Or are they politely nodding but not engaged?

I use a combination of Clay for building targeted lists, HeyReach for LinkedIn automation, and direct email outreach. Budget about $500-1000 for tools if you're doing this systematically.

This is your "get out of the building" phase. You're not selling anything yet—you're learning whether your assumptions match reality.

Phase 3: Go/No-Go Criteria (Days 15-21)

After your conversations, apply these simple rules:

Move Forward If:

  • 60%+ of interviews confirm the problem exists
  • At least 3 people say they'd try it if you built it
  • You can clearly articulate who the customer is and what they'd pay

Pivot or Kill If:

  • Less than 50% confirm the problem is real
  • Nobody mentions willingness to pay
  • You can't identify a clear customer segment

Sometimes the best outcome is learning that an idea won't work—before you've invested months building it. That's not failure. That's validated learning.

Phase 4: Micro-Commitment (Days 22-28)

If it passes Phase 3, test whether people will actually take action:

  • Build a simple landing page (2 hours max)
  • Send it to everyone you interviewed: "Building this. Want early access?"
  • Goal: 20+ signups = real demand signal

No fancy design. No perfect copy. Just a clear description of what you're building and a signup form.

Email signups are cheap, but they're still a signal. If you can't get 20 people interested after direct conversations, you may need to refine your approach.

This is your minimum viable product—not the software, but the test itself. You're measuring whether people will take even a small action toward using what you're proposing.

The Tooling Layer

Here's the tech stack I use to run this systematically:

  • Clay.com - Build targeted prospect lists from LinkedIn, combine data sources
  • HeyReach.io - Automate LinkedIn connection requests and follow-ups
  • MindStudio.ai - Process responses and identify high-intent replies
  • Landing Pages - A simple Rails app
  • Google Ads (optional) - Test messaging with small budget ($200-300)

But honestly? The tools matter less than the discipline. You can do this entire framework with manual LinkedIn outreach and a Google Doc.

The Real Insight

The system isn't about the tools or the timeline. It's about getting market feedback before you've made major commitments.

Every experienced founder will tell you to do customer discovery. But it's easy to skip when you're excited about building. This framework removes the ambiguity—you either hit the thresholds or you learn something important.

And here's the thing: validating ideas is a skill. The more you do it, the better you get at identifying real problems vs. solutions looking for problems. You get faster at running these Build-Measure-Learn cycles.

I'm running this at about $2-3K per month (including contractor time for outreach and interviews). That's a small investment in de-risking bigger decisions.

If you want the full spec with outreach templates, interview scripts, and tool setup, reach out. I'm documenting everything as I go.