# Validate with Conversations

This is the best place to start your validation process. Really, you should be having conversations with your target audience before you even settle on an "idea".

Effectively, you do this by talking to people.

Get your idea out of your head and into someone else's, and do your best to understand their perception of it. Is it any good? Could they see themselves using it? What potential failures can they see?

## Who should I talk to?

Though you can bounce your idea off anyone, the best candidates will be from within your industry of choice. Even better are those within your target market.

Avoid people who will be biased toward you. Mom or your best friend aren’t ideal subjects for validation.

Aim for around 10 people in total, ideally all potential customers of your business. You should be having multiple conversations with them over the course of weeks or months, getting updated feedback for each iteration of your concept.

Ideally, you’ll have these conversations in person.

If you can’t, aim for another form of synchronous communication - a phone or video call. In the worst case, an asynchronous form like email will work, too.

There’s a few different ways of finding validation leads. For instance:

* Friends, your professional network
* In person events, conventions, meetups and tradeshows
* Facebook groups, Reddit, Twitter other social media
* Cold DMs of suitable people (e.g. someone who reviewed your competitors)
* Paid user interviews

Natia Kurdadze has a great [strategy for finding hot leads](https://twitter.com/natiakourdadze/status/1717217463773888665?s=20) and her account is a great general resource about promoting on and getting feedback from Twitter.

## Tips For Discussing Your Idea

The first step is reaching out. You’ll get better at this the more you do it, but if you’re stuck, you could start with a message like this:

_“Hey [name], I’ve been playing around with an idea. Do you have 10 minutes to jump into a call sometime? I’d love to get your feedback.”_

Avoid interviewing crowds. Aim for individuals or small groups, since these are easier to manage and gain value from.

Next, start asking questions.

Try and make these personal to your interviewee, understand their position in your industry and its relation to your startup idea.

* Would you use this? Why or why not?
* How much would you pay for something like this?
* Would you be excited to share this product with your network?

Seek to understand their pain points. Potential customers will understand the usual road bumps best, and how you can avoid them. 

Most of all, avoid the bland, surface-level question of _“Well… do you like it?”_

In fact, here’s a bunch of way better question you should ask:
[insert “Did you like it” question list]

## Resources for Individual Validation

Here are some of the best resources to help you validate with individuals:

* [Gummy Search](https://gummysearch.com/)
* [Customer Ping](https://customerping.ai/)


Intro

Conversations

Sell First