Fig. 1 · Ask
Built is not sold. Find out where they are before you build.
Tell us the idea the way you'd tell a friend. Say who has the problem, what you'd charge if you know, and where you think those people spend their time. Then we go and look. We read what they write in the places they write it, find out who already sells them something close and at what price, and come back with what we found, each line pointing at where it came from. The first read is free and takes about four minutes. If we find nothing, we say so.
Fig. 2 · After the launch
Our own read · 90 people · 2024 to 2026
What people say after the launch
We read 480 posts where people who build things ask why nobody bought. Of the 90 people we counted, 11 asked before building and 76 wrote after the launch. Point at a quote for what that person did next.
“it actually works, we have it running, it's not one of those 'we have a landing page and a dream' situations. and we have exactly zero people paying us. zero. eleven months”
u/developerbb · r/SaaS · 2026-06-19
the demos are honestly fine. people say nice things. one guy literally said 'this is really cool' and then just... never replied to my follow ups.
“3 days in: 30 signups, a few hundred posts parsed, $0.”
u/Cold-Balance-9733 · r/SaaS · 2026-08-14
I messaged about half the signups for feedback. Most of it was positive. Still nobody paid.
“Launched. Almost nobody had the problem I was told existed. The 'desperate audience' was a sentence the model generated to be helpful, not a real group of people I had ever talked to.”
u/iahmedhendi · r/SaaS · 2026-05-31
Talk to at least 10 real people in the target group. Real conversations, not surveys.
“with a consumer iPhone subscription, there aren't that many obvious ways to get in front of people.”
u/Professional_Cup7379 · r/SideProject · 2026-08-18
I've left 53 comments in investing subs over the last few weeks. I never mentioned the app and just tried to be genuinely useful.
Fig. 3 · What it costs
In their numbers
What the year after a launch costs
Building turns out to be the cheap part. Point at a figure for the post it came from.
€174
spent on Reddit ads, for 1,579 clicks and basically zero customers
“€174 spent, 111,927 impressions, 1,579 clicks, and basically zero customers out the other end.”
u/milan6927 · r/startups · 2026-06-02
1 year
of savings into a product, launched, and still zero paying customers
“I'm a solo founder and I spent about a year bootstrapping a product, launched it two months ago, and I'm still sitting at zero paying customers.”
u/MarshM3llows · r/startups · 2026-02-13
3 products
launched one after another, zero customers each
“First product: zero customers. Second product: zero customers. Third product: zero customers.”
u/rayantreize · r/SaaS · 2026-03-25
6 months
on a tool that currently has 0 users
“I spent 6 months on a tool that currently has 0 users.”
u/GDbuildsGD · r/SaaS · 2024-09-13
54 of 96
builders we read in September 2026 named the same problem: they built it and nobody came.
Sourced · Reddit, Indie Hackers, Hacker News · 2026-09-2011 of 40
whose numbers we read say nothing validated the idea until someone paid.
Sourced · Reddit, Indie Hackers, Hacker News · 2026-09-200 of 31
idea validators we read end in a purchase. Every one sells a score or a report.
Sourced · the vendors’ own pages · 2026-09-19
Fig. 4 · A read, scored
Our own idea · coldbluff.ai · 2026-10-01
Five questions, each scored from a share of what we read
- 1ProblemWhat is the problem, in the words of the people who have it?
- 2SuffererWho has it, how often, how badly?
- 3SolutionDoes the idea solve it, and who already sells that?
- 4BuyerWho pays, who decides, who uses, and are they the same person?
- 5DistributionWhere are they, what does it cost to reach them, and what happened to people who tried?
22% · level 4 of 5
11% · level 1 of 5
62% · level 4 of 5
4.4% · level 1 of 5
too little read to score
what the evidence showswhat is left to earnpoint at a name or a cell for the counts
The first read is free and answers the first three questions. Pro answers who pays and where they are, and ends with one test that ends in a sale. We write down what would make us say no before we read anything, and when we find nothing, we say so.
Fig. 5 · The whole read
One of our ideas · Picky toddler meal planner · 6 Oct 2026
Read every page of one idea before you type yours
You offer parents of picky toddlers a tool that plans a week of dinners from five accepted foods for $5 a month.
101
people who state the problem, ask for a fix or name what they use for it, found in 7 rooms, most of them in r/toddlers.
7
products already sell them something close, 6 of them with a printed price.
5 of 5
questions scored. 101 of 212 posts show the problem, while only 6 of 101 people name commercial fixes they use and none establishes use of a meal-planning tool.
Open the sample read. Every line carries its source, and none of it needs an account.
Fig. 6 · Get a read
No card · about four minutes
The first read is free.
Tell us the idea. In about four minutes you have who has the problem, in their own words, and who already sells them something close and at what price, each line with its source.