Validate Your Startup Idea in 30 Days

Learn how to test your idea quickly, cheaply, and effectively. Get users first, then build.

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Course Overview

The most common mistake first time founders make is they don't validate their idea properly – or at all. Too often, founders plunge headfirst into working on their ideas without ensuring it's viability. Result? Months or even years of wasted time, money and opportunities working on something nobody wants.

Learn how to get users first (yes, you can do this!), then build your product based on what you know users want. Discover whether your startup idea is one that people want and will use. Find out quickly, at low cost, and with no code.

Sign up for this free course to join 200+ other aspiring, early stage and seasoned founders who turn to Iterative for expert guidance in validating their startup ideas.

What You'll Learn

Step by step validation process to test user interest in your idea

Real-world examples of what validation looks like in action

Common validation mistakes and how to avoid them

Iterative testing methodologies and feedback loops that drive insights

Low-budget techniques to test your idea that actually work

Practical no-code tools to find your first customers

Who Is This For

• Aspiring Founders

If you have an idea and are considering working on it full-time, this course is highly recommended for you. What we will teach will be immediately and practically useful to you.

• New Founders

If you recently started working on your idea full-time, this course will still be very useful to you. In most cases, founders don’t validate their idea properly before working on it full-time so even if you are full-time, you still need to validate it. In that case, what we teach you will be immediately and practically useful.

• Everyone Else

If you’re none of the above, this course will probably still be useful. In our experience, the principles for validation apply to every stage of a startup and to non-founders. If you’re an engineer, designer or product manager working on a product, you’re going to want to validate a new feature idea before building it out fully. Although it won’t be the focus of the course, the principles are the same..

What Founders Are Saying About Us

“Relevant, filled with insights and concise.”

“I wish that we know Iterative sooner so that we would not waste so much time figuring out things on our own.”

“I would recommend Iterative to other founders for its helpful guidance and support for the entrepreneurs.”

“I came in with very high expectation and you delivered.”

“Loved the specificity of Hsu Ken's feedback, especially when he gives examples to drive home the point he's making.”

“Very useful and learned lots!”

Meet the Creator

Hsu Ken Ooi Co-founder and Managing Partner, Iterative

Iterative is a Y Combinator-style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia.

Previously, Hsu Ken was co-founder of Decide.com, which raised over $16M total funding and was acquired by eBay in 2013. He was formerly VP of Product at Weave (YCS13). He was also Chief Product Officer at Workmate, which raised over $10M total funding.

Linkedin @hsukenooi

This Course Includes

Course Content

Review the materials at your own pace throughout the week. We estimate a commitment of just 1-2 hours per week.

Live Office Hours with Hsu Ken will take place on each Thursday, 20th and 27th June. This is your chance to ask questions, discuss the materials, and gain deeper insights into the validation process.

Week 1: 17-21 June

Module 1: Introduction to Validation

What validation is, why it's the most common mistake first-time founders make, and how to avoid this trap. Discover what successful validation looks like.

Module 2: 3 Essential Components

Dive into the 3 key components needed to validate an idea. Learn different ways to arrange these components for maximum impact in various scenarios.

Module 3: Generate Traffic

Explore the first key component: Generating Traffic. Learn 4 common channels to attract people to your idea.

Module 4: Communicate Your Idea

Explore the second key component: Communicating Your Idea. Learn 4 effective ways to share your idea.

Module 5: Measuring User Interest

Discover the final key component: Measuring User Interest. Learn various methods to gauge interest in your startup idea and how to build interest funnels to drive users to stronger indicators of interest.

Week 2: 24-28 June

Module 6: Real-World Examples

Learn how Hsu Ken validated one of his startup ideas. See how he generated traffic, communicated his idea, and what he discovered was the most valuable measures of interest.

Module 7: How to Create a Validation Experiment

Hsu Ken shares 2 tried-and-tested baseline configurations, one for B2B and one for B2C, that work for most every startup idea.

Module 8: Iterating on Your Idea

Hsu Ken discusses 2 common scenarios that happen after people start running validation experiments: lots of user interest or very little user interest. He shares how you should react in both scenarios and when you might consider moving on to your next startup idea.

Module 9: Key Takeaways and Additional Resources

We'll share a summary of key takeaways and additional resources to help you create and iterate on your validation experiments.

Transform Your Ideas into Reality

Figure out if you’re working on a valuable problem in 30 days. Created by experienced founders, and it's completely free.

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FAQs

Iterative is a YC-style accelerator focused exclusively on Southeast Asia. Iterative invests up to US500K in a batch of startups twice a year. The investment includes 3-months of targeted growth and fundraising support, which culminates in a Demo Day to a network of 400+ investors.

Iterative was founded for founders, by founders. Our mission is to increase the GDP of Southeast Asia through entrepreneurship. As part of this mission, through our Startup Academy initiative, we host free events, programs and courses on everything you need to know to be a successful founder.

Since Iterative started in March 2020, we have raised $65M across two funds, invested in over 100 companies and more than 200 founders.

Iterative’s portfolio companies have raised $168 million in follow-on funding and are collectively worth more than $1.2 billion. Iterative companies include: fintech startup Spenmo (W21) that closed an $85M Series B round led by Tiger Global; travel startup GoZayaan (W21) which closed $8M in capital and acquired it’s counterpart in Pakistan; proptech startup Propseller (S20) which raised $12M Series A; Sendhelper (S20), a home services startup acquired by PropertyGuru.