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

Define a 'commitment metric' for yourself and for users. For yourself: a specific date and a number (customers, clients, etc.) you must hit by then, so validation has a fixed time box. For users: the signal doesn't need to be payment, but must represent real usage; for Once it was event hosts agreeing to use the product at an actual dated event in front of friends and family, treated as nearly a proxy for payment. Their bar: 10 events with a real date and commitment before writing a single line of code.

Hit the bar (4 friends' events plus ~12 from cold outreach in a month), then built and launched; $20K monthly revenue 83 days after launch.