Should I Build It Should I Build It
22 Aug 2025
Artificial Intelligence Startup Lessons

should I build a startup which validates funders startup ideas? the ...

...funder would submit their idea and a genAI model would analyse the ideal and respond with recommendations

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Freemium

People love using similar products but resist paying. You’ll need to either find who will pay or create additional value that’s worth paying for.

Should You Build It?

Build but think about differentiation and monetization.

Your are here

You're stepping into a space where founders are looking for quick and easy validation of their startup ideas using AI. With 17 similar products already out there, it's a competitive landscape, but this also confirms there's a demand for such a service. These products get a decent amount of engagement (7 comments on average), showing people are interested in discussing and refining their ideas. The core challenge in this "Freemium" category, according to our analysis, is that people resist paying, and with so many options, convincing them to choose yours and pay for it is going to be hard. Many users expect this validation to be free, meaning you'll have to find a specific user who is willing to pay or offer them extra benefits that are worth the money. Be mindful that similar products have been criticized for relying too much on being just an OpenAI wrapper or not providing real-world applicable feedback.

Recommendations

  1. Given you're in the Freemium category, it's important to identify which funders get the most value from the free version of your AI idea validator. What types of ideas do they submit? Which reports do they find most useful? Use this information to tailor your premium features.
  2. Based on the feedback from similar products, create premium features that offer significantly more value. Consider advanced market research, competitor analysis, or personalized consulting with experienced entrepreneurs. Address concerns about the AI being just an OpenAI wrapper by developing unique functionality.
  3. Explore charging teams or VC firms rather than individual funders. These entities might be more willing to pay for a service that can streamline their initial investment decisions. Offer different tiers based on the number of ideas they can validate per month.
  4. Offer personalized help or consulting as a premium feature. Some funders might appreciate a human touch to interpret the AI's recommendations and develop a strategy. This also differentiates you from purely automated tools and addresses criticism about lack of real-world feedback.
  5. Following the criticism against competitors regarding missing free trials, introduce a trial period to allow potential customers to evaluate the product before subscribing. You can limit the number of validations or the depth of analysis during the trial.
  6. Considering feedback from competing products, integrate a feedback loop where users can rate the AI's recommendations and provide additional context. This will improve the accuracy of the model and demonstrate that you're continuously learning and adapting.
  7. Address concerns about data security and idea theft by implementing robust security measures and clearly communicating your data privacy policy. Highlight these measures on your landing page to build trust with potential users.
  8. Focus on transparency regarding the AI's validation process. Explain the underlying mechanisms and data sources used to generate the recommendations. This will help users understand the value of your service and address concerns about its accuracy.

Questions

  1. How will your AI model avoid the pitfall of simply being an OpenAI wrapper, and instead provide unique, insightful analysis that goes beyond surface-level observations?
  2. What specific metrics will your AI use to validate startup ideas, and how will you ensure that these metrics are relevant and accurate for different industries and business models?
  3. How will you balance the need for automated, AI-driven validation with the potential value of human feedback and expert consulting, and how will this impact your pricing strategy?

Your are here

You're stepping into a space where founders are looking for quick and easy validation of their startup ideas using AI. With 17 similar products already out there, it's a competitive landscape, but this also confirms there's a demand for such a service. These products get a decent amount of engagement (7 comments on average), showing people are interested in discussing and refining their ideas. The core challenge in this "Freemium" category, according to our analysis, is that people resist paying, and with so many options, convincing them to choose yours and pay for it is going to be hard. Many users expect this validation to be free, meaning you'll have to find a specific user who is willing to pay or offer them extra benefits that are worth the money. Be mindful that similar products have been criticized for relying too much on being just an OpenAI wrapper or not providing real-world applicable feedback.

Recommendations

  1. Given you're in the Freemium category, it's important to identify which funders get the most value from the free version of your AI idea validator. What types of ideas do they submit? Which reports do they find most useful? Use this information to tailor your premium features.
  2. Based on the feedback from similar products, create premium features that offer significantly more value. Consider advanced market research, competitor analysis, or personalized consulting with experienced entrepreneurs. Address concerns about the AI being just an OpenAI wrapper by developing unique functionality.
  3. Explore charging teams or VC firms rather than individual funders. These entities might be more willing to pay for a service that can streamline their initial investment decisions. Offer different tiers based on the number of ideas they can validate per month.
  4. Offer personalized help or consulting as a premium feature. Some funders might appreciate a human touch to interpret the AI's recommendations and develop a strategy. This also differentiates you from purely automated tools and addresses criticism about lack of real-world feedback.
  5. Following the criticism against competitors regarding missing free trials, introduce a trial period to allow potential customers to evaluate the product before subscribing. You can limit the number of validations or the depth of analysis during the trial.
  6. Considering feedback from competing products, integrate a feedback loop where users can rate the AI's recommendations and provide additional context. This will improve the accuracy of the model and demonstrate that you're continuously learning and adapting.
  7. Address concerns about data security and idea theft by implementing robust security measures and clearly communicating your data privacy policy. Highlight these measures on your landing page to build trust with potential users.
  8. Focus on transparency regarding the AI's validation process. Explain the underlying mechanisms and data sources used to generate the recommendations. This will help users understand the value of your service and address concerns about its accuracy.

Questions

  1. How will your AI model avoid the pitfall of simply being an OpenAI wrapper, and instead provide unique, insightful analysis that goes beyond surface-level observations?
  2. What specific metrics will your AI use to validate startup ideas, and how will you ensure that these metrics are relevant and accurate for different industries and business models?
  3. How will you balance the need for automated, AI-driven validation with the potential value of human feedback and expert consulting, and how will this impact your pricing strategy?

  • Confidence: High
    • Number of similar products: 17
  • Engagement: Medium
    • Average number of comments: 7
  • Net use signal: 15.0%
    • Positive use signal: 23.9%
    • Negative use signal: 8.8%
  • Net buy signal: -5.3%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.9%
    • Negative buy signal: 6.2%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

Validea - Validate startup idea in just 110 seconds

02 Jun 2024 Web App Startup Lessons Artificial Intelligence

AI idea validator that will provide score, list of competitors, list of users spots, marketing plan, guide to MVP/Product, and legal considerations for your next startup idea

Validea's Product Hunt launch received positive feedback, with users praising its potential to streamline startup validation and save time. Several users highlighted the need for improvements in UX/UI, authentication, and bug fixes. Some expressed concerns about data security, potential idea theft, and the accuracy of market research. Suggestions included integrating feedback loops, adding product reviews, offering a trial period, and clarifying the meaning of the validation scores. Users are eager to try the product, especially for quick project validation.

Users criticized the Product Hunt launch for lacking proper authentication and having UX/UI issues. Concerns were raised about missing pricing information and the absence of user reviews on the landing page. The app's validation process was seen as endless. There were also expressed fears of idea theft, and uncertainty about its underlying mechanisms. Highlighting scaling difficulties and founder experience, as well as offering a trial before account creation, were suggested improvements.

ddneat

Love it! Would be great to get some insights about potential pricing too

shushantlakhyani

I hope more wantrepreneurs try using this before working full time on their business idea

chandula

This is a great idea! one suggestion though, I would love it if we could try it out before signing up for an account, at least once or with limited features.

zeiki_yu

Incredible tool for the indecisive! Validea's rapid feedback loop is perfect for iterating on ideas without the usual analysis paralysis.

devinmark

Great idea! This will safe many upcoming startups a lot of time 😁 Good luck with your launch, will try it out myself with my next idea!

guillermo_bascunana

Interesting idea, saved and will try soon.

xx_11

I'm trying to use it now, but it keeps validating after submitting the idea, and it's been loading for half an hour and still hasn't finished oops. Refreshed it and it's still doing the same thing 🥲

utopian_sounds

As an indie hacker jumping from project to project idea validation is tedious and hard. This tool looks like a good way to do validation quickly and avoid headaches. Will check it out!

nermin_zejnilovic

Roman, gratz on the launch! Great idea! I thought about it too. I will test it and write an honest review. Good luck 🙏

sirisha_dinavahi

Congratulations! I will validate my idea using Validea.

benjamin_sloutsky

I love this startup idea!! Will definitely check it out. I feel like some of the biggest early stage problems founders face are validation and market research. Thanks, and congrats on the launch!

leticia_rosset

The idea of streamlining the process of validating startup ideas sounds like a great time-saver for founders. Looking forward to seeing how this app evolves!

colgworld

Need. Going to try this ASAP!

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I made a tool to help collect and validate startup ideas

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Hey HN, I’m Kyrylo. I recently created a small tool that lets you gather, refine, and validate SaaS/startup ideas using AI. I used to jot down my product ideas in a note apps, but it wasn’t very practical for collecting feedback or refining them. So, I built this tool to make the process easier.Here’s how it works:1. Enter a brief description of your idea. 2. The app uses AI to generate project details. 3. Share your idea via a link that includes a feedback form.It’s pretty straightforward, and I’d love to hear your thoughts or any suggestions!

Users commented on a variety of Show HN products/services, from FuneralDash for funeral planning to WeatherBet for weather betting. Some expressed skepticism about AI and preferred human validation or existing tools like Google Docs. There were concerns about age limitations, licensing, and the effectiveness of some ideas. Innovative concepts like Antimatter warp engines and video conferencing toilets were mentioned, as well as a crowdfunding platform for political lobbying. Users also discussed the potential of IdeaCapturePro and AdPaw Hat for monetization. The landing page and Pieter Levels were praised, while some comments were sarcastic or protective of their ideas.

Users expressed skepticism about AI's effectiveness for the service, likened it to Google Docs, and questioned its originality and clarity in solving problems. Concerns about idea theft, arbitrary restrictions, and the platform's tone were noted. The 'world domination' goal was criticized as unclear and inappropriate. Users found the Q&A format unsuitable for brainstorming and were puzzled by the public nature of the platform. Criticisms also included a lack of features, differentiation, and creativity, as well as issues with idea rejection and selection criteria. The sign-up process was faulted for not saving initial ideas.

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Idea Validator - Get honest feedback about your business idea.

13 May 2024 SaaS Artificial Intelligence Marketing

Get honest feedback about your business idea. Build something people want. Done in 10 seconds by AI. (100% FREE)

Idea Validator's Product Hunt launch received mixed feedback. Many users praised it as a useful, free tool for reality-checking ideas and saving building time. Some found the tool creatively helpful, and plan to use it regularly. However, others criticized its core hypothesis and value, with some reporting inaccurate invalidations of successful businesses, and results that don't reflect real-world outcomes. There were questions about the AI determination and concerns about potential 'idea farming'. Despite mixed reviews, users congratulated the launch and found the comments fair.

Users criticized the product's core value proposition and expressed concerns about bias in its sorting methods, questioning whether it relies on statistics or qualitative analysis. Several users felt the results were poor and invalidate successful businesses, indicating flaws in its validation process. Some perceived it as idea farming for personal gain. The meaning and effectiveness of the percentage match were also questioned, with one user citing a 'terrible' idea based on a low validator score.

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Yazero - Validate your business/startup ideas with ease using AI

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Validating startup ideas is hard. Yazero makes it easy. Get fast, accurate analyses of your ideas and validate them with confidence. Try 3 validations for free!

The Product Hunt launch received positive feedback, with users congratulating the team and expressing excitement about the project's potential. Several users see it as a valuable tool, particularly for entrepreneurs and validating ideas. There's interest in its functionality and potential improvements with more analyzers and input word count. A question was raised about its effectiveness as an OpenAI wrapper, and another user inquired about what constitutes a good score.

The primary criticism revolves around the app's perceived value as an OpenAI wrapper, with users questioning its unique functionality beyond being a simple interface. There's also a desire for more descriptive text within the app to better explain its features and ideas.

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Noah Insights - Your AI business strategist to validate any startup idea

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The launch of Noah Insights is congratulated, with users noting its potential for accelerating MVP creation. There's a request for feedback on lebesgue.io and some expressed reluctance to share ideas with competitors. One comment was deleted. A user highlights the importance of real-world feedback for AI insights and expresses interest in Ful.io's destruction.

The primary criticism is that the AI insights lack customer validation, suggesting they are currently untested theories. This raises concerns about the practical applicability and reliability of the product's core AI-driven features.

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Want to know if your startup ideas have potential? Validator helps you analyze and rate your ideas, providing a comprehensive overview of their market viability. Get actionable data-driven insights to filter, refine and enhance your ideas.

The product launch is being congratulated, with users highlighting it as a useful tool and a powerful feedback mechanism for serial entrepreneurs. A potential user has expressed interest in a free trial to evaluate the product before purchasing.

A key criticism is the absence of a free trial. Users suggest offering a free version, even if limited, to allow potential customers to evaluate the product before committing to a purchase. This lack of a trial period may deter some users from trying the product.

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StatAI - Validate Your Startup Ideas Instantly with AI

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StatAI is a free AI-powered tool that delivers a 360° analysis of your startup idea in minutes. Get market insights, competitor research and actionable recommendations instantly. Save time, avoid costly mistakes, and build with confidence! 🚀

The Product Hunt launch received positive feedback, with users appreciating the product's analysis. One user hopes the analysis is critical and not merely designed to please. Several users expressed interest in trying out the product.

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I've launched two other startups this year, without validating the idea or requesting feedback on them. Got 0 interest as a result, they failed flat on their face.This experience led me to learn more about startup product validation, but I had a problem: where do I find the users of my product and how can I contact them?Why shouldn't this be easy, why not have a centralized platform that can connect the person with the idea with potential users and get validation before committing.The startup is called PitchPeers. It's work in progress, but you can join the waitlist.If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it. Thanks!

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Evaluate your startup ideas based on criteria from top entrepreneurs

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We all know what the frustration of spending days juggling an idea in your head, wondering if you should pursue it or not. That’s why I built Percepto, I always dreamed of being able to ask a incredible founders like Paul Graham if I should pursue “insert random startup idea”. So I thought what is the closest I could get to that dream? Well the checklist he evaluates an idea on is public online, if my idea could objectively pass his checklist that would certainly give me enough confidence to pursue it further!The crucial word is "objectively." When I evaluated ideas in my own mind, subjective emotions inevitably crept in, whether through overly optimistic leanings or random waves of self-doubt about the idea's feasibility. I also frequently overlooked crucial factors that I would not uncover until days/weeks of deeper idea validation.That’s why I built Percepto! It’s built to be an objective second look for your ideas. As I was building the app I found it super helpful for getting an objective second look on ideas that would randomly pop into my head before I went to far down the rabbit hole. I recommend trying a few different checklists and maybe come up with a few of your own. I hope you find it as useful as I did!

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