Tell Sell Excel
Tell · The Diagnostic for startups

Validation Sprint

Validate your startup idea in 2-4 weeks. Real customer interviews, real market data, real willingness-to-pay signals - ending in one clear verdict: kill, pivot or go.

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Free AI Startup Validation

Get your first verdict right now - free

No waiting, no two-week sprint to see where you stand. Paste your idea and your email and get an AI kill / pivot / go verdict plus the riskiest assumption, in under a minute.

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Most startup ideas die of guessing

Founders spend a year and their savings building a product nobody asked for, because asking felt slower than building. It is not. Two to four weeks of structured validation answers the question every investor will ask anyway: who pays for this, and why now?

The Validation Sprint is a fixed-scope, fixed-timeline engagement. I run the interviews, scan the market, test your offer against real buyers and bring back evidence - not opinions. You make the build decision with data instead of hope.

Who it is for

  • Founders between idea and seed who need proof before building or raising
  • Teams whose investors asked "what is your go-to-market?" and got silence
  • Technical founders who can build anything but do not know what to build first
  • Anyone about to quit a job or spend savings on an unproven idea

What you get

  • 10-15 structured problem interviews with your actual target customers
  • Market and competitor scan: who solves this today, at what price, with what gaps
  • Offer and messaging tests with real prospects, not surveys
  • Willingness-to-pay evidence: deposits, LOIs, pre-orders, booked demos
  • A written kill / pivot / go verdict with concrete next steps
How it works

Four steps, one verdict

1

Frame

We define the riskiest assumption in your idea and the customers who can confirm or kill it.

2

Interview

I run structured problem interviews and log what buyers actually say, not what we hope they say.

3

Test

We put a concrete offer in front of real prospects and measure response, objections and money signals.

4

Verdict

Kill, pivot or go - in writing, with the evidence and the next three moves for each path.

FAQ

Startup validation, answered

How do I validate my startup idea before building it?
Talk to the people who have the problem before you write code. Run 10-15 problem interviews, map who already solves this and at what price, then test a concrete offer and watch for willingness-to-pay signals like deposits, signed LOIs or pre-orders. The Validation Sprint runs exactly that process for you in 2-4 weeks and ends with a kill, pivot or go verdict.
What does the Validation Sprint include?
Four things: structured problem interviews with your target customers, a market and competitor scan, live testing of your offer and messaging, and collection of willingness-to-pay signals. It ends in a written verdict - kill, pivot or go - with concrete next steps. Not a 50-page report.
How long does startup validation take?
2-4 weeks, depending on how fast we can reach your target customers. The point is speed: you get a decision you can act on in weeks, not a research project that outlives your runway.
What if the verdict is "kill"?
Then the Sprint just saved you a year of building the wrong thing and the money that goes with it. A clear kill verdict comes with the reasons and, in most cases, the adjacent opportunity the interviews surfaced. Founders rarely walk away with nothing.

Is your idea worth a year of your life?

Bring the idea to a free 30-45 minute call. You will leave with a sharper view of the risks either way - no pitch, no obligation.

Book a free call