Validate an idea before you build it
Post the problem. Watch what people do, not what they say.
First brand read free. No filming.
On this page
The short answer
Post about the problem before you build the product: Two to four weeks of short videos on the problem, its cost and the solution you imagine, all pointing to a waitlist. Comments that describe the same problem in people’s own words and waitlist signups are real signals; views and likes are not. It still does not prove people will pay, so add a price test before you build.
Updated
Run it in four weeks
- 01
Write the problem and a waitlist page
One sentence for the problem, one page with what you plan to build and an email field. No product needed.
- 02
Prepare three angles
The problem itself, what it costs people, and the solution you imagine. Five posts each is enough to start.
- 03
Post every day for two to four weeks
Same time, varied angles. Say plainly that you are building it; people respond to honesty and it keeps the test fair.
- 04
Score the angles, not the posts
Signups and real comments per 1,000 views, by angle. One viral post proves little; an angle that converts again and again proves a lot.
- 05
Ask for money
Offer early access for a price, a pre-order or a paid pilot to the most engaged people. Their answer is the validation.
- 06
Decide
Build, change the angle, or drop the idea. Dropping it after four weeks is a win compared with dropping it after four months of building.
Doing it on autopilot
By hand
Write, film and post a video a day for a month. It works and it is a second job.
With Percify
Start from a one-sentence description of the idea, no website needed. Percify deals daily post ideas built on formats that performed, presents them with your own face and voice, posts the ones you approve, and its autopilot leans the next ideas toward what each post’s numbers show.
Which signals count
Views
Weak. They measure the hook and the algorithm, not the need.
Likes
Weak. Cheap to give, and given to ideas people would never use.
Saves and shares
Medium. Someone wants it later or knows who needs it.
Comments in their own words
Strong. “I have this exact problem with…” is a customer describing the pain for you.
Waitlist signups
Strong. An email is a small cost; compare signups per 1,000 views across angles.
Money
Strongest. A pre-order, a deposit or a paid pilot is the only proof that people will pay.
Read next
Your questions, answered
Short answers to what people ask next.
Put the problem in front of the people who have it before you build: a few weeks of short videos pointing to a waitlist, then ask the most engaged people to pay for early access.
No fixed number. Compare angles by signups and real comments per 1,000 views; a few thousand views per angle is usually enough to see which one people care about.
Yes, if you say so. Present it as something you are building and collect a waitlist; never take payment for something you might not ship without making refunds clear.
Yes. Percify presents the videos with an avatar of you, made from one photo and a short voice sample, so you approve posts instead of filming them.
No. Percify can build the brand from a one-sentence description of the idea. A one-page waitlist is enough to collect signups.