35–42% of businesses fail because no one needs what they built.
That means products and services built on assumptions.
With no real demand, and no validation from the market.
Do this instead
↓
A simple + low risk way to test your idea:
Start posting on social media
Reach out to relevant people that might have this problem and ask 1-2 questions
Listen to the problems people repeat
Offer a simple paid solution
Build the full version after demand is proven
Your only focus at that stage is to find a real problem and then validate it.
And the best way to validate is to ask the market.
Validation is not your opinion.
Validation is someone paying you.
That’s why I love social media - you get instant feedback.
(and don’t forget that silence is also feedback)
This edition is sponsored by: BELAY
83 Ways to Stay in Control
When margins tighten, every move matters.
BELAY’s Small Business Survival Guide gives you 83 practical ways to cut costs, improve cash flow, and keep operations running smoothly without overextending your team.
Most people get this completely backwards.
They build first. And they think about monetization too early.
(don’t get me started on how many times people ask me how fast they can monetize)
Then they try to convince people to buy.
But the market doesn’t care what you want to build.
It responds to what it needs.
Listen to the signals:
questions in your inbox
patterns in your work
patterns in your discovery calls
people asking for help
If you reach out to people who might have this problem - ask them:
what keeps them up at night?
what happens if they don't solve it?
After you have validation
When you have validation, you should look around and see: who else is doing this?
How are they doing it?
What does the business model look like?
How long have they been on the market?
What does their social media content look like?
How are they selling it?
Learn from them - you don't need to reinvent the wheel.
That’s it.
That’s where you start.
Build from demand and things move fast.
Build from assumptions and you waste precious time and energy.
Talk soon,
Hanna
📌 PS. I help founders get consistent inbound leads from their content on LinkedIn and their newsletter and turn what they have built into a system and a funnel. Here's how I can help you:
Download one of my guides and start today: https://hannalarsson.gumroad.com/
Work 1:1 with me: https://hannalarsson.me/
Me and my team build for you: https://hunt.rs/
Use my link and get 20 % off your first 3 months of your paid plan with Beehiiv after a complimentary 30-day free trial. (https://www.beehiiv.com/?via=hanna-larsson)
