All Decisions
March 2019 accepted

Validate the Problem Before Scaling the Product

startup-lessonsproduct-strategyvalidationcto-judgement
Context

At ILOVEGREENER, one of my biggest early lessons was that building a technically interesting product is not the same as proving a painful enough market problem. I was excited by the technology, the AI angle, and the product concept, but the commercial validation was not strong enough before deeper engineering investment began.

Options Considered

Build the Full Product Vision Early

Develop a broad product with AI, recipe management, recommendations, and user-facing functionality before narrowing the strongest use case

Pros
  • Exciting product story
  • Demonstrates technical ambition
  • Creates a fuller demo experience
Cons
  • High build cost before validation
  • Too many assumptions
  • Risk of solving a weakly validated problem

Validate a Narrow Use Case First

Focus on one painful user problem, validate demand, and expand only once usage signals are strong

Pros
  • Lower risk
  • Clearer product-market learning
  • Better prioritisation
Cons
  • Less impressive early product
  • Requires saying no to features
  • Can feel slower at the beginning

Run Manual Validation Before Automation

Test the value proposition manually before building automated systems around it

Pros
  • Fastest learning
  • Low engineering waste
  • Exposes real user behaviour
Cons
  • Not scalable
  • Less technically exciting
  • Requires close user engagement
Decision

The lesson I took forward was to validate the sharpest problem before scaling the product. In my current CTO role, I apply this by challenging whether a feature, automation, or AI workflow is solving a real operational pain before committing engineering effort.

Consequences
Jul 2019

Too much effort went into building a broad product vision before the strongest user pain was proven

negative
Feb 2020

The product became harder to position because it had multiple possible use cases but no single dominant wedge

negative
May 2021

The project did not become commercially successful, but it became a major lesson in product validation

neutral
Jan 2023

In later CTO work, I became more disciplined about linking engineering investment to validated user and business outcomes

positive