Most startups miss this CRUCIAL step!

11 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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0:57

In this concise advisory video, Dan Novaes explains how startups can validate a business idea before investing in development. He recommends directly engaging potential customers, using simple prototypes or decks to gauge interest, and measuring demand through landing pages that track sign‑ups and acquisition cost. Novaes also suggests pre‑selling or taking deposits—citing Tesla’s Cybertruck pre‑order model—as a way to confirm willingness to pay before any code is written. The video ends with a call‑to‑action to follow for more free growth hacks.

Chapters

Here's how you validate your business before you actually build it. Go out and talk to potential customers. Anyone can build a deck and talk to people about something they're actually building. You do not need a whole business in order to do that. You can create a prototype and just tell people about what you're building and see if they're interested or not. Ask about these pain points, not just your solution. Put up a landing page that allows them to click if they're interested or not and sign up. How many people are you getting? What does it cost you to actually get those people on your page? Is this something that you likely can make more money than it costs you to get those users? You can actually even charge money before you write a single line of code. If your product is that valuable, people might be willing to pay $1, $10, $100 for it as a preorder. Think about what Tesla did for the Cybertruck. It was 3, 4, or 5 years away for it to actually be built, and people could put down a deposit for $100 to show their interest. Even the largest companies in the world are doing it. Why shouldn't you? If you want to get more of this, follow us and get all of our hacks for free.