Free startup idea validator
Nine questions, a score out of 100, and the one thing to go find out first. It runs in your browser: no email, no account, nothing sent anywhere. Below the tool: what the paid validators actually do, the three kinds that exist, and what to check before you pay for one.
They differ in one thing that matters — where the numbers come from — and several that do not. We build one of these tools, so read accordingly; the last section says plainly where ours is the wrong choice.
Free · No signup · Nothing leaves your browser
Score your idea in nine questions
This scores what you know about the idea, not the idea. Answer honestly; the score is only useful if you are willing to score yourself badly.
1.Can you name three people who have this problem?
By name, people you could message today — not "small business owners".
2.What do they do about it right now?
A specific workaround: a spreadsheet, an agency, someone they pay, or ignoring it.
3.What does the current fix cost them?
A number in money, hours, or something they are embarrassed about.
4.Who else sells a solution, including the boring ones?
Named competitors plus substitutes. "Nobody" usually means no market.
5.Why would someone leave what they use now?
One sentence a customer would repeat to a colleague.
6.Has anyone paid for anything in this direction?
A deposit, a pre-order, a signed letter, an existing paid tool. Said and paid are different verbs.
7.How will the first hundred customers find out?
One channel you can describe in detail, with its cost.
8.What has to be true for this to work?
Two or three assumptions, ordered by how badly it dies if wrong.
9.Will you still care in six months?
A reason connected to you specifically, not to the size of the market.
0 of 9 answered
Three kinds exist
| Kind | Time | Price | Right for | Stops being useful when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instant scanners | Under 2 min | Free – $30 | Sorting a list of ideas down to the two worth thinking about. | They see one paragraph, so they cannot know your margins, your access, or which half of the idea you are unsure about. |
| Report generators | Minutes | $9 – $499 | Producing a document for someone else: a co-founder, an investor, a spouse who wants to know why you are quitting. | Length is not evidence. A 150-page report and a 4-page one can rest on the same three assumptions. |
| Interview-based validation | 30 min+ | $10 – $50 per project | Deciding about one idea you are close to committing to. | Slow by design, and pointless if you have not narrowed down to one or two ideas yet. |
A side-by-side of the actual products, with prices and methods: what each one actually does.
Five things to check before paying
Can you click through to a source?
If numbers arrive without links, they are the model’s recollection. Fine for orientation, dangerous in a pitch deck.
Does it ever say no?
A tool that scores almost everything favourably is a compliment generator. Ask what share of ideas it rejects.
Is the verdict computed or composed?
Ask the same idea twice. If the score moves, nothing anchors it to anything measured.
Does anything check the AI?
One model in one pass cannot catch its own invention. Some tools verify claims with a second and third model, most do not.
How much does it ask from you?
A tool that takes one paragraph can only answer at the resolution of one paragraph.
Where ours sits
GoNoGo is the third kind. Instead of a form, a 15-minute voice conversation that asks follow-up questions and pushes when an answer is thin — which brings ten times more context into the research, measured on our own projects: median 1,616 characters of the founder’s words against 163 from a single field.
- → Six research stages with live web search, so competitors come from this week
- → Key claims checked by three independent models from three vendors, disagreement recorded by name
- → A verdict computed from thresholds on researched values: 70+ go, 50+ pivot
- → 20 reports across strategy, implementation and brand
When it is the wrong tool: if you have a dozen ideas and want them sorted, a quarter of an hour per idea is absurd and a free instant scanner is the right answer. Ours is built for the idea you are about to commit months to.
Try the third kind
Three projects free, no card. Fifteen minutes of conversation, then the research runs while you do something else.
Start free — 3 projects →15 min · No credit card · up to 20 reports