The validation of ideas is a practice that is gaining more strength every day thanks to Lean Startup and Lean Planning methodologies, as they have changed the way new business concepts are conceived.
Idea validation is the process of testing and validating your idea before launching it into the market. It's like the research and development process that large companies use to test product ideas before they are released to the general public.
Idea validation can involve anything from interviews to gather information to special landing pages on the web. The whole purpose is to expose the idea to your target audience before building and launching the final product.
Idea validation should not only help you conceptualize, but it should actually generate significant returns in other aspects of the startup process.
Therefore, always try to incorporate lead capture opportunities in your surveys, interviews, and trial sales posts whenever possible, or create the possibility of some kind of follow-up.
The main reason why you should validate an idea is to save money and time. Investing in development can take time and money, and if in the end the product doesn't have a target market that finds it interesting, you will have lost your entire investment. It is preferable to conduct a test where you don't invest as much money or time and, in the end, be sure that there is a customer interested in your product.
The second reason is that it will allow you to generate interest in the idea, as you will be testing it in a real market, not just with friends and acquaintances.
Don't make the rookie mistake of working on an idea that no one is truly interested in. Idea validation can save you time by giving you a good idea of whether your idea appeals to your potential audience. It can also save you a lot of money.
This process will tell you whether or not you should pay to create your product or service. For example, you could end up spending a lot of money building an expensive version of a product that your customers don't even want, need, or use.