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Customer Validation
Proving that real people will pay (in money or time) for what you are building, before you build all of it.
Example
You think classmates will pay $5 for a study-pack you'd put together. Instead of making it first, you offer it for pre-order. Three friends sign up and hand you $5 each. Now you know the idea has real demand, before you spend hours building it.
How it fits in
Validation is harder than it sounds because friends and family will reassure you for free. Real validation looks like a stranger handing over money, signing a letter of intent, or putting up time and reputation. Anything weaker than that is encouragement, which is fine. It is just not evidence. Most ideas that fail have been encouraged a lot but never validated.
Where this is taught
Practise it on the platform
Related terms
Someone who builds a product or service to solve a real problem and tries to make it pay for itself and grow.
A short, honest sentence that names who you help, what problem you solve, and why your way is better.
The smallest version of an idea that is real enough for someone to actually use it and tell you the truth about it.