Find & validate your idea

Find a problem worth solving, then prove people want it before you build.

What founders use for find & validate your idea, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. A tarpit idea is one that looks easy and gets praise from everyone, yet has quietly killed hundreds of founders who tried it.... Y Combinator Library Video · ~20 min Tarpit Ideas: The Sequel Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel In 2 answers
  2. The same argument as the essay, but spoken, if you would rather watch than read. Dixon walks through real markets that looked... Andreessen Horowitz Video · 4 min Why the Next Big Thing Will Look Like a Toy Chris Dixon In 2 answers
  3. Video · ~30 minutes Nandan Nilekani on India's Digital Public Infrastructure Nandan Nilekani In 2 answers
  4. A YC partner and ex-Airbnb growth lead gives a tactical, no-fluff talk on landing early customers for both B2B and B2C. It's... YC Startup Library Video · ~30 min video How to Get Your First Customers Gustaf Alstromer (Y Combinator)
  5. A step-by-step, modern YC walkthrough of identifying buyers, starting conversations, and converting them into your first... YC Startup Library Video · ~20 min How to Get Your First 10 Customers Max Kolysh (Y Combinator)
  6. YC's partners walk through concrete business models that were not viable before large language models: full-stack law firms,... Y Combinator (Lightcone Podcast) Video · ~45 min Startup Ideas You Can Now Build With AI (Lightcone Podcast) Garry Tan, Harj Taggar, Diana Hu, Jared Friedman
  7. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer
  8. Video · ~10 min How to get your first ten customers Michael Seibel
  9. Video · about 30 minutes How to Sell Tyler Bosmeny
  10. Video · ~50 min How to Get Users and Grow Alex Schultz (VP of Growth, Facebook), Stanford CS183F Startup School
  11. Video · ~4 min The Original Dropbox Demo Video (MVP) Drew Houston
  12. Video · ~10 min Product-market fit with Michael Seibel Michael Seibel
  13. Segment's founder walks through failures and near-misses so you can feel the contrast between not having fit and having it.... Y Combinator (Startup Library) Video · ~45 min How to Start a Startup: Finding Product-Market Fit Peter Reinhardt (Segment)
  14. Caldwell has watched thousands of YC companies pivot, and he lays out what a good pivot looks like versus flailing. His key... Y Combinator Startup Library (Dalton Caldwell) Video · ~15 min All about pivoting Dalton Caldwell
  15. Video · ~35 min watch How to Kickstart and Scale a Marketplace Business (talk) Lenny Rachitsky
  16. Video · ~50 min watch The Ultimate Guide to Two-Sided Marketplaces with Jeff Jordan Jeff Jordan and Harry Stebbings
  17. A tight 17 minute talk that distills The Mom Test into the one habit that matters most: stop presenting your idea, because... The Conference by Media Evolution Video · 17 min Rob Fitzpatrick: (not) presenting your idea Rob Fitzpatrick
  18. Video · ~35 min Growth for Startups Gustaf Alstromer
  19. Video · ~45 min The Mom Test (author talk) Rob Fitzpatrick
  20. Video · 50 min How to Start a Startup, Lecture 2: Team and Execution Sam Altman
  21. Video · About 50 min How to Start a Startup, Lecture 1: Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Sam Altman and Dustin Moskovitz
  22. Video · ~20 min Kunal Shah on the Delta 4 Theory (TechSparks talk) Kunal Shah
  23. Video · ~1 hr Paras Chopra in conversation with Kunal Shah (CRED curious) Paras Chopra and Kunal Shah
  24. Bob Moesta, one of the originators of Jobs to be Done, shows how to interview people about the struggling moment that made them... Business of Software (Bob Moesta) Video · About 45 min Demand-Side Sales 101 (talk) Bob Moesta

Show the next 24

The questions

Finding & shaping ideas 18

Find a problem worth years of your life.

I want to start a startup but I don't have an idea. Where do I even begin? 19 → How do I come up with startup ideas that aren't just 'Uber for X'? 19 → Should I solve a problem I personally have, or chase a bigger market? 19 → How do I know if my idea is a real problem or just a 'nice to have'? 19 → I have too many ideas. How do I pick which one to actually work on? 19 → All 18 questions in Finding & shaping ideas →
Validating your idea 21

Get evidence before you write code.

What does 'validating an idea' actually mean? 20 → How do I know if my idea is any good? 18 → How do I validate an idea without building anything? 18 → How do I talk to customers without getting false positives? 19 → How many people should I talk to, and how do I find them? 17 → All 21 questions in Validating your idea →
Market size & timing 18

Is it big enough, and why now?

How big does my market need to be for this to be a real business? 19 → What are TAM, SAM, and SOM and how do I actually calculate them? 18 → Why does 'why now?' matter so much for a startup idea? 17 → My market is small right now but growing fast. Is that a problem? 16 → How do I size a market for India specifically when data is messy? 19 → All 18 questions in Market size & timing →
Founder-market fit 17

Why you, and why this problem?

What is founder-market fit and how do I know if I have it? 18 → Do I need to be an expert in an industry to start a company in it? 19 → I'm passionate about an idea but have zero background in it. Should I still do it? 19 → How much does 'why you?' actually matter to investors and to success? 19 → As a woman founder, or one building outside the big startup hubs, how do I turn my background into an edge? 19 → All 17 questions in Founder-market fit →
Spotting trends & opportunities 18

Live in the future and build what's missing.

How do I spot trends early enough to build a startup on them? 20 → How do I tell the difference between a real trend and a passing fad? 20 → Everyone says the next big thing looks like a toy. What does that actually mean? 16 → Where do I look to find emerging opportunities before they're obvious? 19 → What are the biggest emerging opportunities in India right now? 18 → All 18 questions in Spotting trends & opportunities →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →