Before you build: a two-week validation sprint you can run alone

Most ideas don't fail because the code was bad. They fail because nobody needed them badly enough to change what they already do. The good news is that you can find this out in two weeks, before you write a single line of product code.

This is the sprint we built Vouch around. You can run it with a notebook and a calendar.

Day 1 to 2: write down what has to be true

Start with your riskiest assumptions, not your feature list. Sort them into three buckets:

• Desirable: does a specific person feel this pain often enough to act on it?
• Viable: will they pay, and is the price worth your time?
• Feasible: can you actually deliver it with what you have?

Pick the one assumption that would kill the idea if it were wrong. That is the only thing you test first.

Day 3 to 10: talk to people, not about your idea

Aim for ten conversations with people who match your target customer. Ask about the last time the problem happened, what they did about it, and what that cost them. Avoid asking whether they would use your product. People are polite, and polite answers are useless evidence.

Good signals sound like specifics: a workaround they built, money they already spend, a tool they tried and dropped. Weak signals sound like compliments.

After each call, write down one quote and one fact. Patterns show up faster than you expect, usually by the fifth or sixth conversation.

Day 11 to 14: ask for a commitment

Interest is cheap. Commitment is the real test. Depending on your idea, that could be:

• joining a waitlist on a simple landing page,
• booking a second call to see a prototype,
• signing a letter of intent,
• or paying for a small pilot.

If nobody will commit to anything, that is an answer too. It is a much cheaper answer at week two than at month six.

What to do with the result

At the end of the sprint you should be able to say one of three things: keep going, change the customer or the problem, or stop. All three are wins, because each one is based on what real people said and did rather than on what you hoped.

Only build once customers vouch for it.