Ask HN: How do you quickly test out new product/app ideas?

I think it helps to list out the core value of your idea and the easiest way you can test out that it actually brings value to your end-user/customer. Alongside of that, you should have assumptions/hypothesis surrounding your idea that can be tested/validated out in the cheapest, quickest way that brings measurable results.

Buffer Box is a great example of a startup that tested out their idea cheaply and quickly: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/bytes/e/part-1-the-bufferbo...

TLDR; BufferBox was one of the first "Amazon Locker"-services. The problem they solved was "missed deliveries". So they tested (cheaply, quickly and easily) their concept by posting posters everywhere on their college campus promoting a way for people to not miss their deliveries (students always missed deliveries due to classes and this was before the days of Amazon where they just dropped packages in your front door). Students signed up would put in Buffer Box's address and would get their items/products/packages delivered from a team member of Buffer Box. This helped Buffer Box validate there was a need for their service, and that their product ("Buffer Box") would be needed.

Two things:

1. Smoke tests Set up a landing page, buy traffic and see how good it would convert. You can improve on the copy a little bit (value proposition) but you can extrapolate the interest. Also take Google Trends into account.

2. Directly talk to potential customers. "You don't need a product to sell a product".

The market should already exist for most products. For the iPhone, the market was feature phone users who played Java apps. For a social media app, people should already have created these social groups elsewhere, and those groups would be straining from the poor technology. For SaaS, someone should already have hacked a solution together.

Personally I say figure out your initial market and even your marketing approach before you write any code at all. Get buyers lined up for the product before you build it, preferably with cash on hand, ready to pay you.

Validating a business model also means taking on tons of technical debt. Build your app with PowerPoint or Wix if you have to, just to prove the concept. Don't build the app too much until you have something people are willing to pay for. You'd be surprised how many SaaS are badly built at launch, including Stripe.