What are strong signs to keep going?

Someone asks when they can start or what it costs, a buyer introduces you to a colleague with the same problem, or people describe the problem the same way unprompted.

What are signs to stop?

Everyone agrees the problem exists but nobody has tried to fix it, only people who can't buy are interested, or you've changed the buyer three times and the answer is still lukewarm.

← All answers

For: Founders before they quit their job, or before they spend six months building

How do I know if my startup idea is any good?

My answer, as of Oct 5, 2026

Ask five people who have the problem to pay for it. A good idea solves a frequent pain that someone already spends money on, for a buyer you can name and reach cheaply, with a reason it should be you. You can test all of that in two weeks.

Keith Brown · Growth & Leadership

Answered Oct 5, 2026

Where the line actually sits

Weekly

How often the pain should show up

A problem people hit weekly beats one they hit yearly.

Already paying

Proof the budget exists

Spending, even on a bad workaround, proves someone will pay to solve it.

Conversations before you decide

Talk to twenty people with the problem. Ask about the last time it happened and what they did.

People you ask to pay

Write a one-page offer with a price and send it to the five who cared most. Count yeses, contract requests and deposits.

What changed in the last year

Building got cheap, so building is no longer proof of anything. The test is whether someone pays, not whether you can ship it.
Competition is usually good news. It means someone already found the budget.

What most founders get wrong

“My friends love it.”
Friends will always say it's great. "I'd definitely use that" is something people say to be kind.
“The market is huge.”
Big markets are where the well-funded competitors live. Market size isn't proof.
“I'll build it first, then sell it.”
Building for six months before a single paid conversation is the most common way founders lose a year.

When I'd tell you the opposite

If after twenty conversations nobody has asked a follow-up question, stop.
If people describe the problem in the same words without being prompted, or ask what it costs before you bring it up, keep going.

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