Whats the most proven way to actually determine if there is a market?

r/Entrepreneur

7/11/2025

Content Summary

The original poster seeks proven methods to validate market opportunities for business ideas targeting small and medium businesses (SMBs). Key concerns include determining if SMBs actively seek operational improvements and whether they're willing to change workflows. Commenters recommend: 1) Creating minimum viable products (MVPs) for testing, 2) Conducting direct interviews with target customers, 3) Analyzing competitor performance, and 4) Observing economic indicators like supply-demand dynamics. The consensus emphasizes avoiding premature marketing and instead focusing on direct customer conversations for demand validation.

Opinion Analysis

Mainstream opinion strongly advocates direct customer interviews as the most reliable validation method. u/grecotigris argues this approach is underutilized as entrepreneurs often prioritize premature actions like running ads. u/Mohammed_Laouer and u/Big_Tangelo_361 support MVP development and pilot testing. u/enderballz introduces an economic perspective, suggesting supply-demand analysis as validation metric. Minor disagreement exists on implementation: OP questions how MVP approach applies to service-based businesses. No significant controversy emerges, with all commenters aligning on customer-centric validation over assumptions. The debate centers on execution tactics rather than core philosophy.