Don't write app code until 10 hosts commit to using it at a real, dated event

Pat WallsThis is awesome. I've never heard of validation in this sort of framing before, so let's talk about this a little bit more. You got your app from 0 to 20k in basically 83 days. If you had to start over today, what would be your playbook?

Brian ShinStep one would be to define your commitment metric. And commitment here means two different things: commitment for yourself and commitment for your potential users as well. For yourself, set a specific date and specific number of customers or clients or other metrics that you would like to see within that date range. And at least you know that this is a finite number of days that you are dedicating and investing to validate your business in a certain amount of time. And the commitment metric of the client to signal validation doesn't always need to be payment. So for us, it was event hosts using our product within those events. So, based on your vertical, based on your product, there must be some type of metric that truly represents usage. …

Brian Shin… encouragement for your product. So that's step two. Well, step three is the real part, which is to build a quick mockup. Don't spend more than two to three days with this. Just go on Figma or just use any of these AI tools that's out there. No matter how scrappy it is, just try to find that really simple product that you can present to your users. And once you have that, step four is to go wherever your users are living in and are active in.

Brian ShinJust start from zero, go to Reddit, learn the ins and outs of Reddit if Reddit is the place to be, or if that's TikTok or if that's YouTube, because this channel will not only be used for validation, but if the validation works, it'll be your main marketing channel in the future also. So do so much cold mailing, cold messaging. Honestly, what I tell other friends and founders is that, if you haven't been banned in these platforms at least two times, you haven't tried enough. And step five is to set that number that gives you enough signal or confidence that this product has potential. For us internally, the goal was simple: before writing a single line of code, I needed 10 events with an actual date with an actual commitment that they would like to try using all the product. Having a commitment to actually use at an event where you have your friends, your family, your loved ones there, we thought that was already a big enough commitment that it was almost proxy to a payment. And so, this would be the exact playbook that I would be using if I had to start all over today.

Pat WallsWell, I love this validation playbook. I think a lot of people watching this, go rewind, start it over, watch it again. This sort of commitment metric, this restraint thing, sounds scary, it sounds hard, but it will save you so much time not building the wrong thing. So I love that. Let's switch topics a little bit. I want to see your app. Can you give me a demo of your app that made over $20,000 last month?