The 37-Point Startup Validation Checklist

Every check I run before spending a dollar on an idea. Distilled from 4,500+ startup ideas tested on Preuve AI and watching which ones actually survive.

6 categories. 37 pass/fail checks.

Each check has clear criteria and an action step if you fail it. Work through them in order.

  1. Problem Validation

    • 7 checks
    • Can you describe the problem without mentioning your solution?
    • Have you found 10+ people who have this problem today?
    • Are they paying to solve it (money, time, or workarounds)?
    • Is the problem frequent enough to sustain a business?
      • 3 more in the full checklist

  2. Market Demand

    • 6 checks
    • Google Trends shows stable or growing interest
    • Reddit/forums have active discussions about this pain
    • Search volume exists for solution-aware keywords
    • Adjacent markets are growing (not shrinking)
      • 2 more in the full checklist

  3. Competitor Landscape

    • 8 checks
    • You can name at least 3 direct competitors
    • You know their pricing, funding, and traction
    • You have a clear positioning gap they leave open
    • No well-funded competitor is building your exact thing
      • 4 more in the full checklist

  4. Unit Economics

    • 6 checks
    • Your price point matches willingness to pay
    • CAC payback period is under 6 months
    • Gross margins exceed 60% (software)
    • Revenue per customer justifies acquisition cost
      • 2 more in the full checklist

  5. Timing & Defensibility

    • 5 checks
    • A recent shift makes this possible or urgent now
    • You have an unfair advantage (domain, network, data)
    • The product gets harder to replicate over time
    • Switching costs increase with usage
      • 1 more in the full checklist

  6. Founder-Market Fit

    • 5 checks
    • You have direct experience with this problem
    • You can build v1 without external funding
    • You can reach first 10 customers through your network
    • You would use this product yourself
      • 1 more in the full checklist

Why I made this

I spent 5 years doing growth marketing for startups. The pattern was always the same: the founders who validated hard and early survived. The ones who skipped it built beautiful products for markets that didn't exist.

42% of startups fail because there's no market need. Not bad code. Not funding. Nobody wanted what they built. I watched it happen over and over - smart people burning 6 months and $50K+ before discovering the idea had a fatal blind spot on day one.

This checklist is every check I ran manually before I automated the process into Preuve AI. It covers the same angles - market demand, competitor pressure, unit economics, timing, and founder-market fit. The difference is the checklist takes 20 minutes. Preuve does it in 60 seconds with live data from 40+ sources.

Both will save you from building the wrong thing.