🚀 Startup & Founders · Validation & MVP

Read validation signals honestly

Distinguish politeness from pull using behavior-based criteria.

intermediate~25 minFoundersIndie HackersEarly Employees

Steps

1Count actions, not compliments: pre-orders, waitlist signups, LOIs
2Weight paid experiments over free interest every time
3Track unsolicited follow-ups; pull shows up unprompted
4Interview churned/declined prospects more than fans
5Set kill criteria upfront to fight sunk-cost bias
6Review signal log weekly; patterns beat anecdotes

Common Pitfalls

▲Mom-test failures: friends saying it's nice
▲Interpreting survey enthusiasm as demand

Commands

Install with skills CLI

$ npx skills add aniruddhaadak80/skills --skill validation-mvp-problem-validation-signals

Install globally

$ npx skills add aniruddhaadak80/skills --skill validation-mvp-problem-validation-signals -g

Tags

#validation#customers#signals#startup-founders#validation-mvp

Install this skill

$ npx skills add aniruddhaadak80/skills --skill validation-mvp-problem-validation-signals -a opencode

SKILL.md

# Read validation signals honestly

> Distinguish politeness from pull using behavior-based criteria.

## When to Use This Skill

Distinguish politeness from pull using behavior-based criteria.

## Steps

1. Count actions, not compliments: pre-orders, waitlist signups, LOIs
2. Weight paid experiments over free interest every time
3. Track unsolicited follow-ups; pull shows up unprompted
4. Interview churned/declined prospects more than fans
5. Set kill criteria upfront to fight sunk-cost bias
6. Review signal log weekly; patterns beat anecdotes

## Common Pitfalls

- Mom-test failures: friends saying it's nice
- Interpreting survey enthusiasm as demand

View source on GitHub ↗

Identify the single riskiest assumption and build only what tests it.

🚀 Startup & Founders·~25m

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Read validation signals honestly

Steps

Common Pitfalls

Commands

Tags

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