– Ross from the Green Urbanist
I’ve changed my thinking on product validation a lot over the years. In my journey, I spent ~6 months developing three courses before talking to anyone about them – and then I “launched” them with little warning.
Unsurprisingly, that launch didn’t go well. The combination of little warning, high prices, and trying to sell THREE courses simultaneously created too many opportunities for failure.
On my next attempt, I presold a course. I set up a landing page detailing the (not-yet-existing) course and told my readers I’d build it if at least 10 people bought it in the presale.
This worked pretty well. Not only did I sell more than 10 units, but now I had momentum and a story.
I followed this presale approach for several product launches until I launched ​CreatorHQ​ last year. I didn’t presale that product; instead, I focused on building awareness for its inevitable launch several weeks in the future.
The Evolution of Validation
You can see the differences here. In the first phase, I didn’t validate anything (and it bombed). In the next phase, I validated the product by asking people to put money down before it even existed. This worked but was never a breakout success. In the most recent launches, I didn’t presell at all – I was confident in the products before making them available for sale.
So what changed? What made me so confident in CreatorHQ (and before that, ​The Lab​)?
Instead of validating products, I think about validating problems.
You could also think about validating desires, but a desire is wanting [thing/future] and not having it (which is a problem).
How to Validate Problems
There are lots of ways to validate problems:
- Firsthand experience
- Intimate knowledge of your audience
- Search Google for the problem
- Search Reddit for the problem
- Search YouTube for the problem
When researching these channels, look for:
- Can you find others talking about this problem?
- Are there existing solutions?
- The specific language people use to describe their struggles
- What they’ve already tried that didn’t work
Competition isn’t always bad – it can be a sign that a market for the solution exists. People open new restaurants every day because humans will never stop being hungry!
That said, if there ARE solutions for the problem, you should have a point of view on why YOUR solution is different and better (at least for a specific type of customer).
The Audience-Product Reality
Now, here’s the key insight most early creators overlook: you’re much more likely to sell a product because you have an audience than to build an audience because you have a product. Building a product before you have an audience will be tough.
Why would any stranger buy from you? They would need to have a lot of trust that you understood them and could solve their problems. Where does that trust come from?
Sure, maybe other people could refer you and your products and pass the trust THEY'VE earned onto you...
But for most creators, it comes from earning trust by giving away a lot of value – time spent helping people for free through your content.
Your entire creator platform should be based on a ​premise​ positioned as the solution to some problem. And in the beginning, you only need one ​signature product​ designed to solve that core problem.
This means that your content exists to serve an audience that is struggling with a shared problem or desire.
What is that?
Your Path Forward
This premise question is fundamental. What do you offer that is legible, compelling, and differentiated?
Once you’re clear on that, you can create a product that addresses it head-on. Maybe your Signature Product takes them from A to Z, or maybe you create something that takes them from A to B first.
But you should understand your target audience so well that it is clear whether your product solves their problem. If you are not convinced of your product’s viability, then you do not understand your audience well enough.
That’s OK! We all started there!
But when you’re here, you should focus on talking to your target audience, learning about their problems, and helping them progress through your content first.
If you can’t attract an audience with your free products (content), then you won’t be able to sell a paid product yet, either.
Take Action This Week
- Work on your premise
- Spend 2 hours researching how people discuss this problem online
- Create one piece of content that directly addresses it
- Share it and monitor the response
Remember: The best product validation starts with deeply understanding your audience’s problems. Your first job isn’t to build a product - it’s to become an expert in your audience’s challenges.
