Ask HN:In what ways did you estimate demand for a problem/product

6 points_aravindc262 comments

Before building a product, how did you estimate its demand. what signals did you look for ?

Went out and talked to a bunch of customers, told them what we were developing, that its not ready yet, asked them if they wanted to sign up (signed paper contracts) to be the first and get a discount on some fees.

PS to proove demand it needs to be an exchange, your customers need to give you something of value for it. This can be money, a promise of money, or risk (eg risk of them being embarassed internally if it doesnt go through).

The Google Keyword Planner gives you an estimate of traffic for a given keyword, which is a proxy for interest.

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