How to validate your app idea before spending a cent.

Getting Started · 7 min read

You've got an idea for an app. You're excited about it. Maybe you've been thinking about it for weeks, maybe months. You can see it in your head. You know the problem it solves. You're ready to go.

Hold on. Before you spend money on a designer, a developer, or anything else, there are things you can do right now, for free, that will tell you whether this idea has real legs. CB Insights analysed over 110 startup failures and found that 35% failed because there was no market need. Not because the tech was bad. Because nobody actually wanted it. Think of what follows as doing your homework. The kind that can save you thousands.

Search the App Store. Seriously.

This sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed how many people skip it. There are over 4.3 million apps across the App Store and Google Play right now. Go search. Type in what your app does. Not the name you've given it. The thing it actually does for someone. See what comes up.

If something similar already exists, don't panic. That's actually a good sign. It means there's a market. People are already looking for this, already paying for it, already using it. Your job now is to figure out why yours would be different or better. What are the reviews saying? What are people complaining about? Where are the gaps?

If nothing exists, ask yourself why. Sometimes it's genuine opportunity. You've spotted something nobody else has. But sometimes it's a warning sign. Maybe someone tried it and it didn't work. Maybe the market isn't big enough. Maybe the problem isn't painful enough for people to pay to solve it. Don't assume "no competition" means "great idea." It can mean that, but it can also mean the opposite.

While you're there, download the top three or four competitors. Use them. Really use them. See what they do well, where they frustrate you, and what's missing. This alone will sharpen your thinking more than a month of sitting with the idea in your head.

Talk to the people who'd actually use it

Not your friends. Not your family. They'll tell you it's a great idea no matter what. They love you. They want to be supportive. That's exactly why their feedback is unreliable.

You need to talk to actual potential users. People who have the problem your app would solve. But here's the key: don't ask them "would you use this app?" Everyone says yes to that question. It's polite. It's easy. It's meaningless.

Instead, ask about their behaviour. When was the last time they had this problem? What did they do about it? How much time did it take? How much money did it cost them? Did they try any existing solutions? What did they think of them?

There's a book called The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick that covers this brilliantly. It's used at Harvard, UCL, and in accelerators like Seedcamp and Microsoft Ventures. The core idea is simple: talk about their life, not your idea. If they can't give you specific, recent examples of the problem, it might not be as big as you think. If they can, and they light up when they talk about how frustrating it is, you're onto something.

If you're a business owner who's been in your industry for years, you've probably already had these conversations without realising it. You've heard the complaints. You've seen the workarounds. That firsthand knowledge is incredibly valuable. It means your validation is already partly done.

Check Reddit and online communities

Find where your potential users hang out online. Reddit, Facebook groups, forums, LinkedIn communities, industry-specific Slack channels. Whatever it is, go there and read.

Don't post asking "would anyone use an app that does X?" Just read. Look at what people complain about. Look at the questions they ask. Look for patterns. If people are repeatedly frustrated by the same thing your app would solve, that's validation you can't fake. It's real people, expressing real pain, in their own words.

Pay attention to how they describe the problem. The language they use is gold. It'll help you understand how to talk about your app later, when you're writing your App Store listing, your website, your marketing. If your users call it "tracking" and you call it "monitoring," you've already created a disconnect. Speak their language.

And if you search for your problem and find nothing? No complaints, no frustration, no workarounds? That's worth paying attention to. It might mean you're looking in the wrong places, or it might mean the problem isn't as widespread as you thought.

Use AI to stress test your idea

Tools like ChatGPT and Claude are free and available right now. Use them. Describe your app idea in detail and ask them to challenge it. Ask for competitors you might have missed. Ask for reasons it might fail. Ask what assumptions you're making that could be wrong.

You can also ask AI to role-play as your target user. Describe who that person is, what their day looks like, what their frustrations are, and then ask whether they'd realistically use your app. The answers won't be perfect, but they'll force you to think through things you might have glossed over.

AI won't replace real user research. Nothing will. But it's a fast, free way to pressure test your thinking before you invest real time and money. Think of it as a sparring partner that's available at 2am and never gets tired of your questions.

Look at the business model, not just the product

Here's where a lot of people get stuck. They've been so focused on what the app does that they haven't thought about how it makes money. But the business model is just as important as the product itself. Maybe more so.

How will your app generate revenue? Subscriptions? One-time purchase? In-app purchases? Freemium, where the basic version is free and you charge for premium features? Advertising? A commission on transactions?

Each model changes everything. It changes how you design the app, how you onboard users, what your MVP looks like, and how much it'll cost to build. If you can't answer "how does this make money?" clearly, that's worth figuring out now. Not after you've spent twenty grand on design and development.

Look at how your competitors monetise. Download their apps. See what's free and what's behind a paywall. Read their reviews to see what people say about pricing. This will give you a realistic picture of what users in your space are willing to pay.

Talk to someone who's built one

If you know anyone who's been through the process of building an app, talk to them. Buy them a coffee. Ask them what the experience was like, the good parts and the bad parts. Ask what they'd do differently. Ask how much it actually cost, not just the design and development, but the marketing, the maintenance, and the ongoing time commitment.

Their hindsight is worth more than any article you'll read, including this one. There's no substitute for someone who's been in the trenches and can tell you honestly what it's really like.

Ask them about the surprises. What caught them off guard? What took longer than expected? What would they have validated differently if they could start over? People who've been through it love talking about this stuff. They wish someone had told them, and they're usually happy to pay it forward.

If you genuinely don't know anyone who's built an app, that's okay. You can find communities of founders and builders online. Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, startup Slack groups, even Twitter. The app building community is more open and generous than you'd expect.

Validation doesn't mean certainty

You'll never be 100% sure. That's not the point. If you wait for certainty, you'll wait forever. The point of validation is to reduce risk enough that you're making an informed decision, not a blind bet.

If you've searched the App Store, talked to real users, scoured online communities, stress tested with AI, thought through the business model, and spoken to someone who's been through it, you're in a strong position. You know more than most people who start building an app. You've done the work.

Some of those steps will confirm your idea. Some will challenge it. Some might change it entirely. That's all good. Better to reshape the idea now than to discover the problems after you've invested real money.

Once you've done the homework, the next step is talking to a designer who can help you shape it into something real. Someone who'll ask the hard questions, push back where it matters, and guide you through the process of turning a validated idea into a product people actually want to use.

That's the part I love. When someone walks in having done the work, knowing their market, knowing their users, knowing the problem is real. That's when the magic happens. Because we're not guessing anymore. We're building on a foundation that's already been tested.

If you've done the validation and you're ready to take the next step, let's talk.

Sources
Top Reasons Startups Fail (CB Insights) - 35% of startups fail because there's no market need. Not bad tech. Nobody wanted it.
App Store and Google Play Statistics (42matters) - Over 4.3 million apps across both stores. Yours needs to stand out.
The Mom Test (Rob Fitzpatrick) - A practical guide to talking to potential users without accidentally getting told what you want to hear.

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