Many startups fail because they skip a critical step: customer validation. Sure, your idea is clever. Your mom loves it. Your college roommate said it’s genius. But unless you validate that customers are willing to pay for it, you’re just guessing—and guesses don’t pay the bills.

Last month, we explored “Desire Paths,” a method for observing customer behavior to guide you to product-market fit. This month, we’re taking it further by discussing how sales validate your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and your pricing model.

Show Me the Money

Customer validation boils down to answering two critical questions:

1. Who will pay for your product?
2. How much are they willing to pay?

The key word here is pay. It doesn’t matter how much positive feedback you collect—if no one is opening their wallets, you’ve got a problem. Validation isn’t just about interest; it’s about proof that your product solves a problem so compelling that customers are willing to say, “Here’s my credit card.”

Done right, customer validation will save you from costly mistakes. Building a product is time-intensive and expensive, and every wrong turn eats away at your resources. Early validation sharpens your understanding of who will buy, why they’ll buy, and at what price. It accelerates your path to profitability and ensures your messaging resonates with your ideal buyers.

Customer validation replaces the thrill of ideation with the clarity of data. If the cash isn’t flowing, it’s time to pivot. Sometimes, a micro-pivot or a series of small adjustments is all it takes to align your product more closely with what your customers truly want. 

The Customer Validation Process

Start Early: Validation Before Building

Customer validation should start before you build anything beyond your MVP (Minimum Viable Product). At this stage, you’re not swinging for the fences; you’re testing the waters.

Your goal is to find the right customers—the ones who will pay for it. 

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Common Validation Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Many founders stumble into these three common traps:

1. Small Sample Size:
   Making one or two sales and calling it “validation” isn’t enough. You need broad, repeatable data to confirm real demand.
2. Relying on Your Personal Network:
   Friends and family aren’t your customers. True validation comes from unbiased buyers who don’t know you—and will pay full price.
3. Over-Customization:
   Building one-off, bespoke solutions for anyone who shows interest wastes time and dilutes focus. Validation should uncover scalable opportunities, not lead to endless custom builds.

How to Validate the Right Way

Here’s the framework for customer validation that actually works:

1. Talk to Real Humans.

Start by identifying pain points and unmet needs with potential customers. Ask:

• “How are you solving [insert problem] today?”
• “Why is that working, or not working, for you?”
• “What systems, tools, or processes have you tried?”
• “If this problem were solved, how would it impact your work, efficiency, or bottom line?”
• “How much would you—or your economic buyer—pay to resolve this issue?”

Be direct, and listen for real frustration, not just polite interest. As you listen, you will uncover what type of pain your customers face:

Shark-bite pain: the kind of problem they need to solve—often leads to faster purchases and higher willingness to pay. 

Mosquito-bite pain: a problem they can live with—may still represent a viable opportunity, but it often requires a lower price point, a slower sales cycle, or a stronger emphasis on value. 

Both types of pain can inform your strategy, but understanding the difference helps you set realistic expectations and align your product and pricing accordingly.

2. Test Your MVP.

Your MVP doesn’t need to be perfect—it needs to be functional. Put it in front of early adopters who will give you honest, unfiltered feedback—even if it stings. 

Focus on identifying recurring themes in the feedback. These patterns will point you toward broader market needs and help you refine your product.

Negative feedback doesn’t mean your product isn’t or can’t be good. Invalidation is just as valuable as validation. Both outcomes save you time and resources by steering you toward a better solution.

3. Start Selling.

Start selling your product as it is. Sales is the ultimate test to validate pricing, identify adoption barriers, and refine your go-to-market strategy. Begin broad, then narrow your focus:

1. Find your beachhead industry. Who is most likely to pay for your product?
2. Narrow your focus through interviews and sales data.
3. Drill down into specific verticals, departments, and decision-makers.

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As you hone in on the right customers, you’ll gain valuable insights to align your product, messaging, and pricing with the buyers most likely to convert.

 Keep in mind:

• Friction is feedback. If you hit adoption barriers, dig into why. Pricing? Messaging? The product itself? Every obstacle is a chance to refine.
• Be honest about interest. If people repeatedly say no, resist the urge to dismiss them as “not the right customers” or assume they “just don’t get it.” Embrace intellectual honesty. If people aren’t buying, the problem may be your solution, not your customers.

TAM, SAM, SOM: Do the Math

Before diving headfirst into any market, take a step back and evaluate the potential. Understand the Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) for each niche. Even if you dominate a niche, it won’t matter if the market is too small to sustain your business.

The Beekeeper SaaS Dilemma‍

Imagine you build a SaaS tool for beekeepers to monitor hive health. It’s innovative and solves a real problem. But let’s crunch the numbers:

• TAM (Total Addressable Market): 100,000 U.S. beekeepers.
• SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market): Only 25% (25,000) are professionals willing to pay for a tool.
• SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market): After accounting for competition, you estimate capturing 10% (2,500) in five years.

At $10/month per customer, that’s $300,000/year. Sounds decent until you factor in your team, overhead, and growth ambitions—the effort may not justify the return.

If your SOM doesn’t align with your growth goals, it’s time to pivot. For example, adapting your beekeeping tool to serve adjacent industries, like crop monitoring or livestock health, could dramatically increase your TAM.

Go where the growth, money, and pain are leading you—not where you think the product should go. Use data to make decisions on when and where to pivot. Once you find a market that shows strong potential, keep testing for repeatable success. This is where growth becomes sustainable, and your validation efforts pay off.

Pricing: Finding Your Goldilocks Zone

Pricing validation is essential to sales success. The goal is to find the “just right” price where customers see the value and you stay profitable.

• Too High: Pricing too high can discourage customers from purchasing, making your product seem overpriced compared to competitors. This limits market penetration and reduces sales volume.
• Too Low: Pricing too low can devalue your product even if it initially attracts more customers. It may also fail to cover costs, and harm profitability, threatening long-term sustainability.
• Just Right: The ideal price reflects your product's value, stays competitive in the market, and supports your financial goals. This "Goldilocks" zone balances affordability for customers and profitability for your business.

Study competitors’ pricing to understand your market positioning, then focus on highlighting your unique value. As you learn more about your customers—their willingness to pay and how they perceive your product—adjust accordingly. Ask early adopters: Does this feel fair? Too high? Too low? Pricing feedback is as critical as product feedback.

Pricing isn’t static. As your product and customer base evolve, so should your strategy. The right price today might not fit tomorrow, so stay flexible and let data influence your decisions.

Avoid Confirmation Bias: Let Data Be Your Guide

It’s tempting to cherry-pick feedback that supports your assumptions, but confirmation bias is a fast track to failure. Here’s how to avoid it:

• Validate across diverse customer groups, not just your inner circle.
• Look for recurring themes, not one-off opinions.
• Trust the data—not your gut.

Above all, fall in love with the problem, not your solution. When you prioritize solving your customers’ pain points over defending your product, you’ll naturally adapt to feedback and make smarter decisions. It’s not about being right—it’s about building something your customers will pay for.  

Measure Your Validation

Validation doesn’t stop at the MVP—it’s an ongoing process. Every sales call, demo, and pitch is an opportunity to refine. The ultimate goal is a scalable, repeatable sales process that consistently converts. Use these tools for measuring validation:

1. New Leads Per Month (and Sources): Where are your leads coming from, and are they growing?
2. Conversion Rates (Leads to Opportunities): Are your leads turning into potential buyers?
3. Qualified Opportunities: How many qualified opportunities are created monthly, and what’s their total dollar value? This helps measure ROI.
4. Opportunity-to-Closed Deal Conversion Rates: Are your opportunities converting to customers, or getting lost somewhere within the funnel?
5. Booked Revenue (by Type): Break it into:some text
   • New Business (new customers)
   • Add-On Business (upsells)
   • Renewal Business (repeat customers)

With the right metrics and a commitment to continuous learning, you’ll be well on your way to building something scalable, sustainable, and indispensable.

Don’t guess. Don’t assume. Talk to your customers. Engage with them. Sell to them. Listen to them.
Your startup’s future depends on it.