Guides
Market validation guides: how to validate a business idea
Most ideas are not killed by competitors — they are killed by an assumption nobody checked. These guides cover the validation work founders skip: sizing real demand, costing delivery bottom-up, testing willingness to pay, and deciding go or no-go on evidence instead of enthusiasm.
Where to start
If you have an idea but no evidence yet, read them in this order. First, understand what market validation actually is and why it differs from market research. Then talk to people who have the problem using a customer discovery interview script built around past behaviour, not hypothetical promises. Once the problem is confirmed, size the opportunity bottom-up with TAM, SAM and SOM, map the alternatives with a proper competitor analysis, and finally put a price in front of real buyers with one of the MVP tests.
Building software specifically? The SaaS validation guide adds pricing experiments, churn risk and the unit economics that decide whether a subscription business can survive. Want the full end-to-end method in one place? The 7-step market assessment process walks from problem statement to a go / no-go decision.
Free validation tools
Prefer to try the numbers yourself? The free startup idea checker scores an idea against nine expert lenses, and the TAM SAM SOM calculator explains each market layer in plain English as you type. Both work without an account.
All guides
What is market validation?
The definition, why it beats market research, and the four questions every validation answers before you build.
Read the guideMarket assessment analysis: a 7-step validation guide
The full process: problem statement, bottom-up sizing, honest costing, S-curve adoption and a go / no-go decision.
Read the guideHow to validate a business idea
A weekend-sized plan for testing demand with real people and real money before you spend anything on building.
Read the guideHow to validate SaaS ideas
Validating software specifically: pricing tests, concierge MVPs, churn risk and the unit economics that decide it.
Read the guideMarket validation research: methods and questions
Interview scripts, survey design, desk research sources and how to avoid the bias that produces false positives.
Read the guideHow to calculate TAM, SAM and SOM
Bottom-up market sizing with a worked example, plus the five mistakes that make investors distrust your numbers.
Read the guideCompetitor analysis for startups
Find the rivals you missed, read their pricing pages properly, and turn the findings into positioning with a real trade-off.
Read the guideCustomer discovery interviews
A question set built around past behaviour, how to recruit ten of the right people, and how to score what you heard.
Read the guideHow to test an MVP before you build it
Six experiments from priced landing pages to paid pilots, each with the pass threshold that makes it meaningful.
Read the guide
Skip the spreadsheet
Samchu-AI runs this whole process for you. Describe your problem in a paragraph and a nine-expert council returns scored solutions, bottom-up costs, adoption modelling, a customer profile and a prioritised action plan. Your first project is free.
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