Ask HN: How would you try to validate this data science project?

It's an image crawler + labeler: https://gigaimager.com and I'm working on it with a couple other HNers

So far, we've just been reaching out to individual developers (via reddit and discord), however it's been hard to identify those who have a current need for image datasets.

I've read many times that PPC should be avoided at this stage, but I'm curious if people here have had success with using PPC to validate an idea.

I'd also be interested in hearing how other data science startups validated their concepts if anyone can share.