As a startup founder or product owner, one of the most crucial questions you can ask yourself is this: Should you actually build this software solution?

It’s not an easy question to answer, but it is one of the most important. Before diving headfirst into software product development, taking a step back to evaluate your idea can save you significant time, money, and effort.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of asking this tough question and the steps you can take to ensure that your software product is worth building.

Why It Matters: A Reality Check

Building a digital product or feature without real validation is a fast track to wasted resources and failed projects. Far too often, founders or tech executives fall into the trap of building for the sake of building, getting caught up in the excitement of a cool idea or emerging technology without considering whether it solves a genuine or big enough problem.

Before committing resources to software development, ask yourself these fundamental questions:

• Is this what the market really needs?
• Does this solve a genuine problem, is the problem BIG enough or is it just a nice-to-have feature?
• Do you fully understand the customer and their pain points?
• Are customers willing to pay for this solution once built? If so, how much?
• Is this solution practical enough to have them stop doing what they are doing or stop using what they are using to switch the solution.

The answers to these questions will provide the clarity you need to move forward — or reconsider your direction. Remember, validation is key. Skipping this step leads to solutions no one will use or pay for.

Avoid Building for the Sake of Building

One of the most common pitfalls startup founders face is falling in love with their solution or technology before fully understanding the customer problem. Here’s how to avoid this trap:

Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Who are you building this for? Do you have a clear understanding of your ideal customer’s needs, challenges, and goals? If you haven’t identified your ICP, take the time to do so before writing a single line of code.

Validate the Problem

Talk to real users. Conduct interviews, surveys, or focus groups to understand their pain points. Most importantly, don’t assume you know everything. Many founders make the mistake of believing they already have all the answers. But true innovation comes from listening to your audience and testing your assumptions.

Ask Hard Questions

Before you start building, ask yourself:

• Why are we building this?
• What specific problem does it solve?
• What alternatives already exist, and why is our solution better?
• Are the customers willing to switch?

Being brutally honest during this process can prevent you from wasting time on a digital product that doesn’t align with market needs.

Actionable Steps to Limit Risk

1. Get Early Validation

Invest in an Innovation Acceleration workshop to validate your ideas. This step involves creating low-cost prototypes, such as wireframes and clickable prototype, to test your assumptions. Present these clickable prototypes to real users and gather feedback before investing heavily in product development.

2. Test Your Assumptions

Create small, inexpensive experiments to validate your key assumptions. For example, run A/B tests, launch a landing page to gauge interest, or develop a proof of concept (POC) to determine feasibility.

3. Measure Interest

Define Minimum Lovable Analytics (MLA) or metrics that allow you to measure genuine market interest. For instance:

• Sign-ups or pre-orders for your product
• Engagement rates during early tests
• Feedback scores from target users

Look for clear signals that your solution resonates with your audience and solves a meaningful problem.

Know When to Walk Away

Sometimes, the best decision is to not build the product at all. This is a hard pill to swallow, especially after putting time and energy into brainstorming and planning. However, walking away from a bad idea early can save you from even greater losses down the road.

Asking the hard questions upfront and validating your assumptions will help you identify whether your solution has real potential or whether it’s better to pivot.

Build a Solution That Matters

Ultimately, your goal should be to build a software solution that truly matters — one that solves a real problem and creates value for its users. To recap:

Ask the hard questions. Understand your market, customers, and problem deeply.
Invest in early validation. Use prototypes and user feedback to test your ideas.
Test assumptions with experiments. Avoid jumping straight into full-scale development.
Measure real interest. Look for meaningful signals of market traction.
Don’t be afraid to walk away. If the idea isn’t viable, pivot or let it go.

By following these steps, you can save time, money, and frustration while building confidence in your solution. It’s better to spend a little extra time in the validation phase than to launch a product that misses the mark.

Need Help Getting Started?

At ISHIR, we specialize in helping founders validate their ideas and accelerate innovation. Our Innovation Acceleration Workshops are designed to provide clarity and confidence, giving you the practical tools and insights you need to make informed decisions. Whether it’s creating clickable prototypes, gathering user feedback, or defining your product’s core success metrics, we’re here to guide you every step of the way.

Let’s build something that matters.