Essay · ~12 min read

Validation is backwards

Alex Hillman · Stacking the Bricks Free Intermediate

A sharp, contrarian read that keeps you honest about what a landing page test can and cannot prove. Hillman argues a fake button or empty signup can mislead you if you have not first understood real behaviour and pain. Worth reading alongside the pro-landing-page pieces so you do not fool yourself with a green vanity metric.

  • A signup is not the same as someone who will actually pay
  • Understand real customer behaviour before you run a fake test
  • Validation without demand research can hand you a false positive
Open on stackingthebricks.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I actually validate my idea with a no-code prototype before I sink weeks into building the real thing?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. Bridges the gap between 'I have an idea' and 'I have evidence.' Gives a concrete framework for cheap, fast tests so you stop... YC Startup Library Video · ~30 min How to Get and Test Startup Ideas YC
  3. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  4. Michael Seibel's crisp framing of holding the problem and customer tightly while holding the solution loosely, the mindset that... Y Combinator Startup Library Video · ~15 min How to Plan an MVP Michael Seibel
  5. Long-form, candid interviews with Indian founders and investors on how they actually grew, distributed and built brand, one of... The Neon Show / Neon Fund Podcast · 200+ episodes The Neon Show (100x Entrepreneur Podcast) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  6. Ries gives you a working method for reading weak signals instead of guessing: build a small test, measure how real people... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages The Lean Startup Eric Ries
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →