James Sinclair explains how to validate your problem: find 10 independent people you don't know who confirm it's real, are already paying to solve it, and could become customers. When asking advisors for feedback, ask how they'd counsel you if roles were reversed to get honest, critical thinking instead of surface-level praise.
Chapters
So I love now what questions. So in this now what question, we talked about the fact that many founders will talk about the size of their market, the size of the opportunity, that if they can just Capture, you know, 1% of it, it's a, you know, true bajillion dollar opportunity. And the next question is, okay, find me 10 people. Find me 10 people that you don't know that will validate the problem is real, that are paying in some way to solve it and could convert it to customers. And now you've done that with what now? So, two things. My first point is, if I came to you and told you I had a solution and I had found 10 independent people who validated it, who are currently paying for something and looking for something better, what would you tell me to do? What would your advice to me be? Always start there. When you think about opinions of outsiders or any of those conversations, start with how you're thinking about the problem statement and how you can be a better critical thinker yourself. And it usually starts with the fact of how would you advise me if the roles were reversed? The second thing.