I’m in a similar position to you, having just started a break from a side project I tried to cram into a business. The idea is a niche news aggregator for professionals like market researchers and consultants focused on a domain. The main take-away I’ve had is “if you make a good MVP, target the right audience, with the right messaging, with a real problem, you will get a very strong response. If you don’t get a strong response, one of those above aren’t true.”.

That’s changed my mindset to shotgun validation: focusing on testing many ideas that I believe are real problems, getting better at messaging (not too hard with a real problem and right audience), getting better at finding the right audience, and the easiest - make good enough MVPs.

What’s great: all of these skills are sharpened by the same thing...talking to customers! Now I keep a list of ideas as I get them, and try to test a few of them every month. If you have a real problem, you make your solution clear to the people with this problem, you’re going to get a serious response. I’m resolved to not waste my time building and getting burnt out on a problem until I’ve gotten “strong” validation now - it should be obvious when you have a real winner to work on.

Here’s my notes from my current side project I’m taking a break from. It’s a mess because I jot down a thought when it comes, but hopefully you can decipher it and get some value.

Learnings from Zip
Form a great team and great partnerships for all aspects of the business
Start with problem/solution fit and talking to real customers before any code (and create - not always code - MVPs FIRST!)
Get advisors / investors!
Talk to customers and find problem solution fit first!
Get investment once I’ve found product/market fit (or even sooner like grants and incubators/accelerators)
Don’t keep everything in your head
https://areyouinterested.co
^ nice for MVPs (also Bubble)
If I had a room full of my prospective customers, would they line up to sign up/hover around my table?
Luck is HUGE - seek and develop ways to increase luck surface
A good idea is one I can get real excitement from real customers to solve ALWAYS VALIDATE FIRST
Network is everything
Real problem + good messaging + targeting the right audience == strong response is validation
Alone is not enough, harness on networks, movements, trends, partnerships, etc
Find mentors by finding people doing what you want to be doing (find your future self)
Work quickly
Use no code platforms to get initial traction and signups
Don’t give up too soon
Build an audience as early as possible (content, meetups, building in public, etc)
Get better at surviving plan A and pivoting
Build in public! Talk about what your building constantly and share it - a serious and large problem will get interest
Read others launches and starts on IndieHacker (their process)
If my MVP doesn’t excite my target customer, it may not be a real problem
How’d other products start?
Sometime it helps to reframe things as “how quickly can I kill this idea” to focus on the most lethal and important validation first
Look at the tactics other use on IndieHacker

https://www.marcuswood.io/blog/we-launched-a-product-with-15...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/j726l3/my_app...

https://www.swipe.page/p/from-an-airtable-to-10k-in-side-inc...