To get honest feedback on a startup idea, stop describing the idea and start asking about the problem. Ask people what they did the last time they hit it, what it cost them, and what they paid to make it go away. Friends and family will tell you the idea sounds great because they are being kind, and that kindness is the most expensive thing you will encounter before you build.
The moment you describe your solution, the conversation becomes about you and the other person switches into politeness mode. Ask instead about the last time they had the problem: what happened, what did they try, how long did it take, what did it cost them. Past behaviour is evidence. Opinions about a hypothetical are not.
A useful test is whether they have already spent money or real effort working around it. Someone paying for a bad tool, or losing an evening a week to a spreadsheet, has told you the problem is real. Someone saying "yeah I would use that" has told you nothing you can bank.
Feedback is only as good as the person giving it. Other founders will give you product opinions, which feel sharp and are usually wrong, because they are not your buyer. Go to the person whose budget the money would come out of, even if that conversation is harder to get.
If you cannot find ten of those people to talk to, that is itself the finding. A buyer you cannot locate is a buyer you cannot sell to later, and no amount of building fixes it.
People avoid disappointing you, so remove the cost of honesty. Say plainly that you are trying to work out whether to kill this, and that a no saves you months. Ask what would have to be true for them to not want it. The answers you get after that framing are worth more than everything said before it.
Then weigh the response by what it costs them. An introduction, a pre-order, or a slot in their calendar next week are real signals. Encouragement is free, which is exactly why so much of it is available.
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Free honest read on your idea, including the no
Because saying otherwise is socially expensive, and because you asked about the idea rather than the problem. Ask what they did the last time they hit the problem and what it cost them. Past behaviour is evidence; polite enthusiasm is not.
The person whose budget the money would come from. Other founders give confident product opinions but are not your buyer. If you cannot find ten real potential buyers to talk to, that difficulty is itself an answer about the business.
Ask what they did last time they had the problem, how long it took, what it cost, and what they have already paid to avoid it. Then ask what would have to be true for them to not want your solution.
Skip the guesswork. Kasspian finds where your first customers actually are (real people asking for what you’re building) and hands you the move to win them, with the sources behind every call.
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