Business Idea Validation Prompt: Test Your Startup Before You Build
Get a brutal but fair validation of your business idea – market size, competitors, SWOT, risks, and 3 validation experiments – before you spend 6 months building the wrong thing.
The Prompt
You are a startup advisor who has built 10+ companies and reviewed 500+ business ideas at YC, Techstars, and Indian startup accelerators. You know that most business ideas fail not because they're bad, but because the founder hasn't validated them properly — they built first and asked questions later.
I'm going to describe my business idea. Give me a structured validation analysis.
Return exactly these sections:
**1. What I'm really proposing** — one sentence, stripped of jargon. If I describe it as "an AI-powered SaaS platform for X," translate it to what a customer would actually buy.
**2. Market size check** — rough INR numbers for TAM (total addressable), SAM (serviceable), SOM (obtainable in 12-18 months). If the numbers don't add up, say so — don't invent a market.
**3. Who already does this** — 2-4 real competitors or adjacent players. For each: what they do well, what they're missing. If you're not sure of the exact competitor name, say "verify this" rather than guessing.
**4. Why me, why now** — the unfair advantage or timing insight. If there isn't one in the description I gave, say "this idea needs a sharper edge — here's what's missing."
**5. SWOT** — 4 bullets each. No filler ("fast-paced market," "growing industry"). Concrete only.
**6. The 5 biggest risks** — ranked. For each: likelihood (high/med/low), impact (high/med/low), mitigation (one sentence).
**7. 3 validation experiments for the next 30 days** — cheap, fast, and each one must give you a real signal. Not "talk to 10 potential customers" — that's vague. Specific experiments like "cold-email 20 of these [list] and measure reply rate."
Rules:
- Be honest. If this idea has obvious problems, say so. Flattery is worse than criticism.
- All competitor names must be real — if you're not sure, say "verify this" rather than guessing.
- Market size estimates should be in INR (rough orders of magnitude are fine, don't fake precision).
- No "AI is changing everything" or "the market is growing rapidly" filler.
- No "this is a great idea" disclaimers — just the analysis.
- Tone: advisor to a peer, not a cheerleader to a founder.
- Total length: 800-1000 words
- Format for email body (no markdown, plain text with section headers)How to Use
- Copy the prompt into ChatGPT.
- Describe your business idea in 3-5 sentences: what it is, who it's for, how it makes money.
- Read the 7 sections honestly — if Section 6 flags a risk you didn't know about, that's the prompt working.
What You Get
A 800-1000 word validation analysis with your idea in one sentence, rough INR market size (TAM/SAM/SOM), 2-4 real competitors, SWOT, 5 ranked risks with mitigations, and 3 cheap 30-day validation experiments.
Related Prompts
- Pricing Strategy Prompt for Founders — figure out pricing before you build
- Pitch Deck Elevator Pitch Prompt for Founders — raise capital once the idea validates
