Some problems hurt but nobody acts on them. Some problems are real but rare. You need both: urgent and frequent. Urgent means people will pay or switch now, not someday. Frequent means it happens often enough that they'll keep using your fix.
Don't fall in love with your idea. Fall in love with the proof.
For each of your 3 problems from waypoint 1, score urgency and frequency from 1 to 5.
| Problem | Urgency (1-5) | Frequency (1-5) | Evidence |
|---|
| Problem 1 | ? | ? | |
| Problem 2 | ? | ? | |
| Problem 3 | ? | ? | |
Urgency signals: "I would pay for this," "I tried 3 tools and none worked," "This costs me money every month."
Frequency signals: "This happens every week," "I deal with this daily," "It's part of my workflow."
Pull the evidence from your interview notes. Don't guess. If either score is below 3, be honest — kill it or dig deeper.
Back it up with data. Check Google Trends: is search volume steady or spiking for your problem terms? Data decides. Ego doesn't.
- Scoring everything a 4 or 5 because you want it to work.
- Ignoring weak scores and building anyway.
- Falling in love with your idea before the data is in. Let the interviews and search trends decide. If the scores are weak, pick another problem from waypoint 1. Ego is expensive.
Build a scorecard in Notion. Score each problem on urgency and frequency. Add evidence from your interviews or search data.
A written validation scorecard with urgency and frequency scores for each problem, backed by interview quotes or search data. If no problem scores 3 or above on both axes, return to waypoint 1 and pick a new arena.
Some problems hurt but nobody acts on them. Some problems are real but rare. You need both: urgent and frequent. Urgent means people will pay or switch now, not someday. Frequent means it happens often enough that they'll keep using your fix.
Don't fall in love with your idea. Fall in love with the proof.
For each of your 3 problems from waypoint 1, score urgency and frequency from 1 to 5.
| Problem | Urgency (1-5) | Frequency (1-5) | Evidence |
|---|
| Problem 1 | ? | ? | |
| Problem 2 | ? | ? | |
| Problem 3 | ? | ? | |
Urgency signals: "I would pay for this," "I tried 3 tools and none worked," "This costs me money every month."
Frequency signals: "This happens every week," "I deal with this daily," "It's part of my workflow."
Pull the evidence from your interview notes. Don't guess. If either score is below 3, be honest — kill it or dig deeper.
Back it up with data. Check Google Trends: is search volume steady or spiking for your problem terms? Data decides. Ego doesn't.
- Scoring everything a 4 or 5 because you want it to work.
- Ignoring weak scores and building anyway.
- Falling in love with your idea before the data is in. Let the interviews and search trends decide. If the scores are weak, pick another problem from waypoint 1. Ego is expensive.
Build a scorecard in Notion. Score each problem on urgency and frequency. Add evidence from your interviews or search data.
A written validation scorecard with urgency and frequency scores for each problem, backed by interview quotes or search data. If no problem scores 3 or above on both axes, return to waypoint 1 and pick a new arena.