Arvid Kahl talks about starting and bootstrapping businesses, how to build an audience, and how to build in public.
283: Business Validation Traps
Founders often listen to the wrong signals when validating their businesses. Let's dive into common validation traps today.
I see three major traps indie hackers have to face: 1) confusing users with customers, 2) getting a bit too much support from our founder peers, and 3) listening to the wrong segments of our user base.
Why do we listen to the wrong people? Founder optimism! We have a built-in confirmation bias — otherwise, we'd never do something as stupid as building our own business... Here's why we fall prey to it, how it works, and how we can escape the trap.
This episode is sponsored by Acquire.com
The blog post: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/business-validation-traps/
The podcast episode: https://tbf.fm/episodes/283-business-validation-traps
You'll find my weekly article on my blog: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com
Podcast: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/podcast
Newsletter: https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/newsletter
My book Zero to Sold: https://zerotosold.com/
My book The Embedded Entrepreneur: https://embeddedentrepreneur.com/
My course Find Your Following: https://findyourfollowing.com
Here are a few tools I use. Using my affiliate links will support my work at no additional cost to you.
- Notion (which I use to organize, write, coordinate, and archive my podcast + newsletter): https://affiliate.notion.so/465mv1536drx
- Riverside.fm (that's what I recorded this episode with): https://riverside.fm/?via=arvid
- TweetHunter (for speedy scheduling and writing Tweets): http://tweethunter.io/?via=arvid
- HypeFury (for massive Twitter analytics and scheduling): https://hypefury.com/?via=arvid60
- AudioPen (for taking voice notes and getting amazing summaries): https://audiopen.ai/?aff=PXErZ
- Descript (for word-based video editing, subtitles, and clips): https://www.descript.com/?lmref=3cf39Q
- ConvertKit (for email lists, newsletters, even finding sponsors): https://convertkit.com?lmref=bN9CZw