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Month 2

Validation

Talking to customers and testing assumptions.

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👋 Who is this for?

Students who have picked an idea and want to find out whether other people actually care about it before they spend lots of time building it.

🎯 Learning Goals

  • Identify who your potential “customers” or users might be.
  • Ask good, open questions instead of jumping straight into a pitch.
  • Collect simple data with conversations and a mini survey.
  • Decide whether to adjust, improve, or keep your idea.

📅 Weekly Breakdown

Week 1

Week 1 – Who might care?

  • Describe the person you want to help:
    • How old are they?
    • Where do they hang out (online or offline)?
    • What does a normal day look like for them?
  • Write a short paragraph: “This idea is for…”
Week 2

Week 2 – Designing great questions

Learn the difference between open questions and closed questions:

  • Closed: “Do you like homework? (yes/no)”
  • Open: “What do you find hardest about homework?”

Write 6–8 open questions that:

  • Ask about their day.
  • Ask about their problem.
  • Ask what they do today to solve it.

Tip: Practice with a friend and adjust anything that sounds confusing.

Week 3

Week 3 – Mini survey

  • Create a small survey (Google Forms or paper) with:
    • 2–3 multiple-choice questions.
    • 3–4 short-answer questions.
  • Aim to get at least 5–10 responses from people who fit your audience.
Week 4

Week 4 – What did we learn?

  • Count and summarize answers:
    • Which problems were mentioned the most?
    • Which ideas people liked or disliked?
  • Make a simple chart or bullet list with your main findings.
  • Decide:
    • Keep the idea as it is
    • Change part of it
    • Pivot to a new idea

🚀 Project for this month

Create a “Validation Summary” that includes:

  • Who you talked to and how many people answered your survey.
  • 3–5 key quotes or insights you heard.
  • One decision you are making about your idea based on the data.

You can present this as a single slide or a one-page document.

💭 Final Reflection

  • Did anything surprise you about what people said?
  • Did anyone disagree with each other?
  • How confident do you feel about your idea now (1–10)?

🌟 Extra Credit

  • Record a 2-minute video explaining:
    • Your idea,
    • What you tested,
    • What you decided to change.
  • Share it with a parent, teacher, or mentor and ask for feedback.