I validated my startup idea with Reddit before building anything. 178K views, zero ad spend. Here's exactly what I did and what I learned. ( i will not promote )
I kept hearing that you should validate before building. Nobody told me how to do it without a following, a budget, or an existing audience.
Here's what actually worked for me.
I had a hypothesis: people visit heritage sites and leave frustrated because the experience undersells the history. I didn't know if this was a me problem or a widespread one.
Instead of surveys or focus groups I wrote an honest personal story about visiting a heritage site and feeling angry about how little context was available. Posted it anonymously on Reddit under a travel subreddit.
43,000 views in the first 24 hours. 86% upvote ratio.
The comments validated something I didn't expect. It wasn't just an India problem. People from the US, UK, Canada, Denmark were describing the exact same feeling at Angkor Wat, Petra, the Acropolis, the Colosseum.
I cross posted to two more subreddits with different angles. Same response.
178,000 total views across three posts in four days. Zero product mention. Zero budget.
Three things I learned that changed how I think about validation:
First, the best validation doesn't mention your product. If people feel the pain without being told to, the market is real.
Second, Reddit comment quality is better market research than any survey. People write paragraphs about their feelings unprompted. That's gold.
Third, international validation matters more than you think. A problem that exists in multiple cultures is a much bigger opportunity than a local one.
I now have a clear picture of who my customer is, what language they use to describe their pain, and which markets to prioritise first. All from four days of posting.
Happy to go deeper on any part of the process if useful for others here.