How to validate your startup idea

> 1. Distill your entire product down to 1–2 features. Your first version should be a feature instead of a product. Figure out what 1 feature summarizes the entire product.

This is a good way to scope down your first launch, but I think there's more that needs to happen before this step #1.

Every startup must establish its own value. What value can your new product provide? Sure, a set of features may attract people to try out your product, but value is what causes people to pay.

Moreover, 1-2 features might not achieve any value for users, leading to an incomplete launch and a botched experiment for your hypothesis.

If you don't know your value, that's ok. Overall, I agree with the article that "it's a game of trial and error".

Use your resources (whether its just scraps or $$$) to run experiments, talk to users, and discover your startup's actual value. That's my idea of "validating your startup idea".

I was really hoping for a little more than some general platitudes. This seems very much targeted at consumer products. Products I work with are not generally the sort of things my friends or family would use - or even understand the need for.

This feels very reductive and not useful advice for anyone who has come to HN knowing anything about the principles of “doing a startup”.