I am freelance UI designer working as part of a small team who are trialing out as many business ideas as we can until something works (can read more about our methodology here).

To be as time efficient as possible, we decided that validating first would probably be wise. This lets us test ahead of time which one of our many ideas would actually be worth spending the time and effort building, rather than build first only to realise no one wants it.

Whilst we aren't completely against building first (indeed, for many projects that is probably more wise), for our specific situation we felt validate first works better for us personally since it lets us figure where best to spend our time and energy.

So how exactly are we doing it? Largely the simple wait list method. Since we have the web design skills, we produce a simple but compelling landing page website explaining our idea/solution. As part of this we include the “Call-To-Action” to sign up to an email wait list. Whilst this gives us some indication, we know that not all who sign up are actually committed enough to translate into users. However, to help us gather deeper feedback, we offer the option to fill in a survey too. Additionally, we reach out and ask for one on one interviews with potential users to try and squeeze out as much insight as we can.

Essentially we just want to get an indication to make more informed bets on where to invest our time and energy. It won't always be right, but its about increasing odds rather than achieving certainty - which is only truly achieved once you made the product and are raking in the sales. But obviously, that takes more time and effort and you don't know if it will payoff until after you spend that. So this validation step helps try to at least make predictions in advance of spending that time and effort.

If we get enough quality feedback and quantity of sign ups, this gives use the signal to go ahead and start building the MVP.

Doing it this way gives us a couple of advantages:

1. We spend a week or two validating each idea to save potentially months of time and effort.
2. We gain valuable insights so we can tailor the build exactly to our potential user base.
3. If we want co-founders, we have something to show them so they know they'll be helping to build something people actually want.
4. We have a list of potential beta testers for our MVP too.
5. If it doesn’t validate enough, we drop it and move on to the next idea.

And this is exactly what we did for “Kanban Kanban”, a productivity app based off a personal need for a simple nested kanban board project management and task tracker tool. We are currently building the MVP right now with all those benefits above.

Now, to help our team keep afloat, generate some income and pay for any costs involved with running more of these experiments, we offer our skills as freelancers. And so, like many freelancers, we want niche down and what better niche for us than offering this validation portion of the process as a service to help others rapidly test their business ideas before building too. We call this “Validation as a Service” (VaaS).

It's a win-win, since we can practice this method on ideas that aren't just our own, generate some income, and help other founders/builders save the most valuable currency they have: time. And when they do decide to spend it, they can do it with confidence and clarity.

However, since we are just starting out offering this service, our first priority is seeking some testimonials from clients we help. Therefore, we are looking for the first 3 users to offer this service to for free if not validated to your satisfaction. That means, if your idea doesn't generate enough interest to qualify as validated (in your opinion, not ours), then you won't be charged anything. However, if it does and you want to continue on to start building the MVP, we'll charge just what it costs to host the landing page site during your build time and handover things to you.

If you are interested, please get in touch via direct message.

Here is our website if you want to learn more: https://www.artalabs.com/

Hi everyone, I am launching a new web design and development service, specifically targeting founders and startups to help them validate their ideas. Will also be sharing our own "startup experiments" too.

To showcase our work and share our services, I have put together a portfolio site using Framer. Would really appreciate any feedback or if you could spot any bugs!

https://artalabs.framer.website/

Hi everyone!

I'm offering a "pay-what-you-want" Figma design service to help founders bring their ideas to life.

Whether you want to visualise your idea to help with MVP planning, presenting to investors or validating the idea with potential users - I can create polished, professional mockups for you in Figma. You can then use these in landing pages, slide decks or posts to help convey your vision.

✅ Perfect for early MVPs, startup concepts, side projects, or even just landing pages.

✅ No upfront cost. You only pay if you're happy with the final design - and you decide how much.

✅ Already have a MVP? I can help improve the design of it.

Why "Pay-What-You-Want?"

I'm just starting out offering my Figma design services professionally, and looking for projects to help build up my portfolio. If you're interested in the kinds of designs I could make, check out a project I'm working on at the moment here that I did the design for: kanbankanban.com

If you're interested, please DM me with:

•    A description of your idea/project
•    What you would like designed (landing page, app screens, etc.)

Happy to jump on a quick call too if you prefer!

Depending on interest, I'll only be able to take on only a few projects right now - so the earlier you reach out, the faster I'll review and get started.

Thanks for reading!

(@admin - not sure if this is right place to post this, so please feel free to remove if against content policy!)

Hey everyone! I’m working on a project called Kanban Kanban — a recursive Kanban board where any card can open into its own Kanban (like Russian dolls for tasks and projects).

It is probably easier to visualize by checking out the landing page here: kanbankanban.com

I’m still validating if this solves a real pain point though, so would love any feedback.

The idea came from struggling with large tasks and tiny tasks sitting side by side on the same board, which then do not move for weeks. Really, these shouldn't be on the same "layer", and should instead be classified as a "project" (a collection of tasks). And then projects can be collected together as "goals". Like how Epics/Stories work in Jira.

So the core idea behind Kanban Kanban is to bake this structure in from the start. Instead of handing you a blank canvas, we start with a Kanban board, and each new card added to it is a container for another layer of Kanban boards. This way you can go as deep or keep things as shallow as you like.

Would Kanban Kanban be useful to you? Any obvious flaws? If validation goes well, I am also open to connecting with potential technical co-founders to help build this.

Thanks!