What’s the scrappiest experiment you’ve run to validate an idea?
Early-stage building is full of hacks and sometimes the fastest, scrappiest experiments teach you more than months of “proper” work.
I’ve heard of people testing demand with:
A “fake door” sign-up button that went nowhere (but proved interest)
A quick landing page with nothing behind it
Cold DMs to potential users with a mockup
Even just a Google Form dressed up as a product
So, I'm curious: what’s the lowest-effort, highest-learning experiment you have ever run to test if your idea was worth pursuing?
Would love to hear the creative (and maybe slightly chaotic) stories that helped you decide whether to double down or pivot.
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I built a fake pricing page with a "buy now" button that just led to a survey. It felt scrappy but the clicks told me people valued the idea enough to pay.
@philip_polk Nice one! This trick is such a clean way to test willingness to pay without building anything heavy. Did you find that the survey answers matched the intent people showed by clicking, or was there a big gap between the two?
My fastest test was simply putting a "coming soon" link in my email signature. Within a week, replies piled up with curiosity, no landing page, no mockup, just interest worth exploring.
IXORD
@nora_roberts1 In most cases people wouldn't react, did you write some interesting text about your product?
@nora_roberts1 Sounds like a super low-effort, yet high-signal approach - glad to hear it worked out!
Did you end up building on that curiosity and turning those replies into your first users, or was it more of an early green light to keep going?
The lowest-effort test for us was simply simulating the experience without any actual product built. It felt messy at the time, but it gave us clarity on what really mattered to users which was faster than any roadmap would tell us
@atique_bandukwala1 Nicee! I agree that sometimes simulating the experience teaches you more than months of building. Congrats on the approach!
I'm curious, tho, did you keep running with that manual/simulated version for a while, or was it just a short bridge until you started building the real thing?
@andreitudor14 Exactly! We actually did it manually just once for our target audiences which turned out enough to make their jaws drop. After that, we jumped straight into building the real thing.
And fun timing - We’re going live on Product Hunt today, so it feels like the journey has come full circle :)
@atique_bandukwala1 Smooth approach! Curious to see the product once you go live - good luck with the launch 🔥
I validated an idea by running a single LinkedIn poll asking about the problem. Dozens engaged and the comments gave me more insight than months of research. Free, fast, brutally honest.
@robert_mills Interesting! LinkedIn polls can indeed be an underrated yet powerful validation tool. Quick pulse, wide reach, and the comments often surface angles you’d never think of. Did the feedback actually shift how you shaped the idea, or just confirm you were onto something?
Funny enough, my biggest insights came from cold DMs paired with a barebones landing page: watching who bothered to click told me more than any survey.
Sometime, it feels like the messier the experiment, the clearer the signal. It gives you a lot of freedom, not having to worry about the complexity of the experiment setup.
@dheerajdotexe That’s such a good point, I feel that messy setups often strip things down to the raw signal.
Did you find that the people who clicked through from your DMs actually stuck around as early users, or was it more of a litmus test for interest?
Well, we were accepted as an alpha startup at WebSummit, but with less than a month, we decided to attend with a different product which was more of an idea and that later became GemsAround.
There was no time to build a real product, so we improvised with a clickable prototype made only from pictures and design—no actual code. People loved it. It validated the problem, showed the need for such a tool, and even got our first enthusiasts onboard. We also managed to talk with our potential users and get their thoughts.
We were upfront about it, and funnily enough, people seemed to appreciate the honesty even more. That early feedback shaped the beta we later built.
@viktorgems Niceee one! Love how you leaned on a pure design prototype and got real validation. Did any of those early enthusiasts stick around once you launched the beta, or was it mostly a fresh wave of users?