Imagine you've built a fully functional SaaS product you're proud of. It does exactly what you wanted it to do and you're sure it will be a hit.

Then comes launch day and... crickets. Not a single sale.

How could this be?

One common cause of this scenario is a lack of validation. While you can never be sure people will pay for your product, you want to have some evidence that you're solving a problem.

Here's how to get that validation...

Step 1 - Draft your ideal customer profile.

Start by creating a customer profile, which is a description of your ideal customer. What are their interests? How old are they? What's their job title? What's their typical day like?

The more questions like these you can answer, the easier it will be to approach the right people for initial feedback.

If someone in your social network fits your ideal customer profile, they'd be a great starting point for answering these questions.

Step 2 - Create a minimum viable product (MVP).

An MVP is a stripped-down version of your final product. It should capture the product's "essence": the features that directly solve your customer's problem.

When people try it, they should be able to infer the product's potential. Even if it's missing features you plan to include later on, the people who try it should be able to imagine what it could become and articulate this clearly.

Consider working with a no-code agency like minimum.run to build something fast.

You should also try to find out what features your competitors have. Depending on your goals, you can intentionally exclude some of those features—to focus on the few you can excel at—or include features you think would attract your ideal customer.

Step 3 - Present your MVP to potential customers.

If you're not in a hurry, use content marketing to grow an audience around your product. Publish useful, informative content where your ideal customer hangs out, then ask them to sign up for a free trial or even purchase your MVP.

Using the profile you created in Step 1 as a guide, browse forums your ideal customer visits—professional forums, hobby communities, etc.—and find out what problems they have that your MVP would solve. Write articles suggesting ways to solve those problems, mentioning your MVP along the way.

You can even do this as you develop your MVP. Each day presents a new challenge, maybe a new tricky feature to implement, a bug to squash, or some other adventure. Write about it!

This builds your following so you'll always have a group of fans who can provide feedback when you need it. You'll probably have more than one idea to test, so this would save time in the long run.

Other ways to validate:

• Run a Kickstarter campaign. If you can describe your product well enough that your ideal customer will "get it", this would save you from having to build anything.
• Offer a heavily discounted lifetime deal. If people buy your MVP at a bargain, that's a good sign you can charge more once you've released the full version.
• Engage your ideal customer on social media. Use Idea Validator to organize your market research.

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