Introducing Validation Program [Closed]

Applications for our validation program is now closed. To the founders who applied, thank you so much. We'll be hosting a new program soon. Please subscribe to us here if you'd like to stay tuned for next one!

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If I could only teach one thing to future and current founders, it would be how to validate startup ideas.

We often see good founders working on bad ideas. Typically, they didn’t validate their idea properly in the beginning, kept working on it and continue to do so because of sunk cost fallacy.

We need those founders working on good ideas instead of being trapped in bad ones.

Similarly, we believe that if more people knew how to validate startup ideas, there would be more startups. Starting a startup can be scary but is inversely proportional to how well it’s been validated. Quitting your job to work on a startup with 0 users and 0 revenue is much scarier than a startup with 10,000 users and $10,000 in revenue. Fight the fear with evidence.

Learning to validate is the first step to learning growth. The fundamentals are the same. In both cases, you’re running a discovery process on what your users care about, building something that resonates with them and figuring out the most efficient way to deliver it to them. If you know how to validate, you’re on your way to learning growth.

For these reasons, I’m excited to announce Iterative will be hosting a Validation Program that starts on November 21. It will be held online, is open to everyone (no application process) and is absolutely free (no equity, no fees, etc.).

How it Works

Here’s how the program works. Although there’s a number of validation methods, we’ll spend most of our time talking about how to validate with paid marketing (cheaply).

Topics

• Week 1: Overview of Validation – Why validation is important, what the goal of validation is, why not all types of validation were created equal.
• Week 2: Validating with Paid Marketing – How to use paid marketing to validate, why we like it as a validation method and how to get started.
• Week 3: Interpreting Your Data – How to extract user insights, how to tell what value propositions resonate with which users and how to iterate on campaigns to generate more user insights.
• Week 4: Using Insights to Iterate on Your Product – How to use user insights to iterate on your idea, verify new directions and how to know when to stop working on an idea.

Format

• Online Live Lectures – Each week, I’ll host a 1 hour live lecture on each of the above topics on Zoom. I’ll walk through examples, with real data, based on validation tests we’ve done in the past.
• Curated Content – There’s a lot of content about startups, not all of it we agree with. Each week, you’ll get a curated list of content that we do agree with focused on the topic of the week.
• Office Hours – Each week, I’ll host an open 1 hour online office hours where anyone who attends the program can ask questions about validation, their startup idea, etc.

How to Sign Up

We want to help more current (and future) founders learn how to validate ideas effectively. While it's open to everyone, slots are limited.

To sign up, apply here.

FAQ

Do I need to have an idea to join this program?

Nope, but it helps to have a few problems you'd like to validate. If you don't have an idea yet, think about a few problems you face in your professional and personal life and bring them to the program. As a start, I've written a few ideas that I'd like to see built here.

Can I apply for the program if I already have a startup idea/business?

Yes. If you already have a startup idea/business, we'll be working on validating those ideas. It's an iterative process and more often than not, some founders pivot their startup after launch.

Do I need a team to apply for the program?

It's not a requirement - you can apply as an individual or as a team.‍

What's the time commitment like?

The program is four-weeks long. On top of the live lectures and office hours, there will be (optional) weekly homework assignments that are designed specifically to help you validate your idea quickly and effectively. You're encouraged to come to the weekly office hours with questions based on your homework so that I can help you more closely.

Does this come with an investment from Iterative?

No. This is a program solely on helping founders validating their ideas, and does not come with an investment.

If I apply for this, am I also applying for the core program?

No. This program is independent of our core program. However, some of our program attendees have gone on to apply to our core programs. You can find out more about the core program here.