HAVE AN IDEA?

Validate Your Startup Idea

For architects and designers who have an idea but don't know yet if it's worth building.

Vaishnavi More

Founder & CEO of Zenoya, backed by Forum Ventures. I've raised over $1M in venture funding, built two companies in the AEC space, and I use the exact same framework below to help you figure out if yours is worth building.

Before you spend months building it, let's find out if it's worth building.

You have an idea → what's next? → How do you know if people actually want it?

Maybe you've noticed a problem in the industry.

Maybe you've thought, “There has to be a better way to do this.”

Maybe you've already sketched the product.

Maybe you've talked about it with friends or colleagues.

Maybe you've even started thinking about how you could build it.

The Framework

01

Get the idea out of your head

02

Find out who actually has this problem

03

Talk to potential customers

04

Test the problem before the product

05

Look for real evidence

06

Decide what to do next

How I help

01) Get the idea out of your head

02) Find out who actually has this problem

Who is this really for?

Architects? Firm owners? Project managers? Interior designers? Developers? Contractors?

And more importantly: who experiences the problem strongly enough to do something about it?

I'll help you turn the idea in your head into something we can actually test

I'll help you identify the people you should be learning from first.

03) Talk to potential customers

Most ideas start as a solution: “I want to build an AI tool for architects.”

But what problem are we actually solving?

We'll break your idea down into the problem, customer, solution and opportunity so we can see what you're really building—and why someone might care.

This is where most first-time founders get uncomfortable.

Who do I contact? What do I ask? Do I tell them my idea? How do I know if they're just being nice?

I'll help you identify the right people, how to reach out to them and structure customer conversations

04) Test the problem before the product

You don't necessarily need an app or platform yet.

You may not even need a prototype yet. There are much faster ways to learn whether someone cares about the problem you're solving.

I'll help you find the simplest way to test it before investing heavily in building

05) Look for real evidence

People saying “That's a great idea” isn't validation.

We look for stronger signals.

Are people actively trying to solve this problem already? Are they spending money? Will they take another meeting? Join a pilot? Introduce you to someone? Try an early version? Pay?

I'll help you determine what evidence would make your idea worth pursuing.

06) Decide what to do next

At the end, there are several perfectly useful outcomes.

  • Build the idea.

  • Modify and then build the idea.

  • Narrow the idea.

  • Test something else before building the idea.

  • Or even rework it before you build the idea.

The objective isn't to prove your original idea was right.

I'll help you figure out what is worth building before you spend months building the wrong thing.

Proof point

“Archslate, my first company, started as an idea I incubated at Harvard Innovation Labs while at Harvard GSD — and we landed our first paying customer the very day we launched. That's the exact framework I now use to help founders validate their idea before they build.”

— Vaishnavi More

Frequently Asked Questions

  • 1:1 sessions start at $149. Every founder comes to me at a different stage, so I don't want to sell you more help than you actually need.

    We'll use the 20-minute intro call to understand where you are, what you're trying to accomplish and where you're stuck. From there, I'll recommend the simplest way for us to work together—whether that's one focused session or a combination of sessions and deeper work.

  • Yes. Most of what makes an idea worth building has nothing to do with code — it's whether the right people have the problem badly enough to pay for a fix. We figure that out before anyone touches a product.

  • That's not a failed outcome — that's the entire point. Finding out in a few weeks instead of after two years of building is the win. Most founders who skip this step find out the hard way, later, at a much higher cost.

  • No — if you already had proof, you wouldn't need this. Most people book this call with nothing more than an idea and a gut feeling. That's exactly the right time to start.

What we'll build together

Your problem statement + ideal customer profile + market assumptions + customer interview plan + outreach messaging + validation experiments + research findings + early positioning + evidence map + next-step plan.

I'm a full-time founder & CEO building Zenoya today. Because of that, I only take on 3 new founders a month for 1:1 work.
(Live view) 🟢 1 of 3 spots open this month

Have an idea? Let's talk about it.

You don't need a pitch deck, business plan or finished product.

Tell me what you're thinking about building and where you're stuck. We'll use a 20-minute conversation to understand where you are and whether I can help.

BOOK A 20-MINUTE INTRO CALL →