How to Validate a Business Idea Before Building Anything

Most founders build first, validate second. That's backwards. I learned this the hard way. You spend weeks building something perfect. Then you launch to silence. Here's how to validate before you waste time: 1. Find 10 People With the Problem Not "I think people have this problem." Actually find them. Search Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn. Look for people complaining about the exact thing you want to solve. Screenshot their posts. DM them. If you cannot find 10 people actively complaining about this problem, the problem does not exist at scale. 2. Ask for Money, Not Opinions "Would you use this?" is worthless. People lie to be nice. Instead: "I'm building a solution to X. It will cost $Y. Want to be a beta customer?" If they say yes, send them a payment link. Pre-sales are the only validation that matters. Everything else is noise. 3. Build the Smallest Version Not an MVP. A prototype. Something ugly that works. Your goal: solve the problem in 48 hours of work. Not 48 days. If people won't