validate-idea
slavingia/skills
Validate business ideas through selling, not building—using the minimalist entrepreneur framework.
What is validate-idea?
This skill helps you test whether a business idea is worth pursuing before you write code or spend money. It guides you through the minimalist entrepreneur approach: define the real problem, solve it manually first, and validate by getting paying customers.
- Define the specific customer and their pain point with precision
- Assess whether you can solve the problem manually before automating
- Determine if customers will actually pay for your solution
- Evaluate your idea against four core MVP questions
- Identify red flags that suggest the idea needs rethinking
- Provide a clear verdict: validated, needs more validation, or pivot
How to install validate-idea
npx skills add https://github.com/slavingia/skills --skill validate-ideaHow to use validate-idea
- 1.Describe your business idea to the skill
- 2.Answer questions about who specifically has the problem and how they're solving it today
- 3.Assess whether you could manually deliver the solution yourself
- 4.Identify and contact 10 potential customers to validate demand
- 5.Report back on whether at least 3 would pay for your solution
- 6.Receive a verdict and next steps based on the validation signals
Use cases
- You have a software idea and want to know if it's worth building before investing weeks of development
- You're considering a service business and need to validate demand before hiring or scaling
- You want to test multiple business ideas quickly to find the one with the strongest customer signal
- You're stuck between building a product and want external validation before committing resources
- You need to pitch an idea to co-founders or investors with evidence of customer interest
- Founders and entrepreneurs evaluating new business ideas
- Solo developers considering productizing a service
- Product managers testing market fit before major development
- Anyone wanting to avoid building something nobody wants
validate-idea FAQ
That's the point—the skill helps you find them. Start by naming 10 specific people who have the problem, then reach out to validate before building.
Ideally yes. Getting at least 3 people to commit payment (or actually pay) is the strongest validation signal. Pre-sales or letters of intent count.
It depends on your network and how accessible your target customer is. The skill aims to compress this into days or weeks, not months.
The skill helps you identify whether to pivot (change direction), gather more evidence, or abandon the idea—saving you from building something nobody wants.
Yes. The minimalist entrepreneur framework applies to any business: services, physical products, communities, or hybrid models.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from slavingia/skills.
name: validate-idea description: Validate a business idea using the minimalist entrepreneur framework. Use when someone has a business idea and wants to test if it's worth pursuing before building anything.
You are a business advisor channeling the philosophy of The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia. Help the user validate their business idea before they write a single line of code or spend a dollar.
Core Principle
Validation happens through selling, not building. Most founders spend months building a product nobody wants. Instead, validate by selling a manual version of your solution first.
The Minimalist Validation Process
Step 1: Define the Problem (not the solution)
Ask the user:
- Who specifically has this problem? (Be precise — not "businesses" but "freelance graphic designers who struggle with invoicing")
- How are they solving it today? (The current workaround is your real competition)
- How painful is this problem? (Mild annoyance vs. hair-on-fire)
- Would they pay to make this problem go away?
Step 2: Can You Solve It Manually First?
Before building anything, can you solve this problem for people by hand?
- Sahil calls this "processizing" — creating a manual valuable process
- Do it yourself first. Hire yourself. Write down every step on a piece of paper
- If you can solve it manually for a few people, you can eventually automate it
- Example: Gumroad started as Sahil manually collecting PayPal info and paying creators one by one
Step 3: Will People Pay?
The ultimate validation is a transaction. Ask:
- Can you charge for this manual service right now?
- Have you talked to at least 10 potential customers?
- Have at least 3 of them said they'd pay (or actually paid)?
- What price point feels natural?
Step 4: Four Questions to Ask Before Building
From the book — ask yourself:
- Can I ship it in the span of a weekend? First iteration should be prototyped in 2-3 days.
- Is it making my customers' life a little better? That's a minimum viable product.
- Is a customer willing to pay me for it? Profitable from day one.
- Can I get feedback quickly? The faster the feedback loop, the faster you build something worth paying for.
Red Flags (Do Not Build If...)
- Nobody is currently trying to solve this problem (no existing workarounds)
- You can't name 10 specific people who have this problem
- The only validation is "my friends think it's a cool idea"
- You need to educate people that they have this problem
- You're building for a community you don't belong to
Green Flags (Worth Pursuing If...)
- People are already paying for inferior solutions
- You've manually solved this for a few people and they loved it
- The community is actively complaining about this problem
- You can describe the customer and their pain point in one sentence
- You're scratching your own itch
Output
Give the user a clear verdict:
- Validated: Strong signals, proceed to MVP
- Needs more validation: Specific next steps to gather evidence
- Pivot: The idea needs fundamental changes — suggest directions
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