Flawed validation techniques

The "lean startup" movement has popularized several techniques for validating a business idea before building a product. However, many of these techniques are flawed and can provide misleading results. It's important to be aware of these flaws to avoid making decisions based on bad data.

Some common but flawed validation techniques include:

• "Would you use this?" surveys: Asking people if they would use a hypothetical product is not a reliable way to gauge interest. People are notoriously bad at predicting their own future behavior. They may say they would use it to be polite or because they genuinely believe they would, but their actions may be different when it comes time to actually use or pay for the product. This is where The Mom Test comes in handy.
• Landing page signups: A high number of email signups on a landing page can be a positive signal, but it's not a guarantee of success. It's easy for someone to enter their email address, but it's much harder to get them to open their wallet. Signups don't equal purchase intent.
• Positive feedback from friends and family: People who know you are likely to be supportive and encouraging, but they are also biased. They don't want to hurt your feelings, so they may tell you your idea is great even if they don't believe it.
• Tech press coverage: Getting featured in a tech blog can be exciting, but it rarely translates into paying customers. The audience for tech press is often other entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts, not necessarily your target customers.
• Pre-selling with a heavy discount: Offering a steep discount to early adopters can be a good way to generate some initial revenue, but it doesn't validate your long-term pricing strategy. You may be attracting customers who are only interested in the deal, not the product itself.

The only true validation for a business idea is a customer paying for a real product. While some of these techniques can be useful for gathering feedback and building an initial audience, they should not be relied upon as a definitive measure of validation. The goal should always be to get to a real product and real customers as quickly as possible, as advocated by The 7 Day Startup methodology.