How do you guys validate new ideas?

Personally I still don't consider myself a pro, so I don't know what are the popular ways to validate new ideas. For me it's based off intuition, what's trending on the market (predictions) and asking family/friends and watching their level of excitement

For me, I could ask a question here and on Indie Hackers. Other thing, is that you can check if you have a direct competitor, that atleast implies there is a market. You can also, make a landing page and launch on Ship here (not always works, didnt work for me).

Really depends on what you're trying to validate. For PitchPages.io, a pitch/fundraising tool we're launching soon for Founders, we tried to validate by mimicking the solution of our product in real life scenarios to gauge response and results. Using that data we then decided it was appropriate to actually build the tool for everyone to use.

Interviews interviews interviews. Speaking directly with your target users without preconceptions is the best way. Quantitative data is a lot less structured because it appreciates that every user's experience is different, so dig deep and try to figure out recurring themes and niche insights. Qualitative data can easily be interpreted in favour of any subtle biases you possess.

By making a landing page seeing who is interested in the idea!

Launching a landing page & testing it with different audiences based on your own predictions, market trends, and interview conclusions.

Do a $X test. Launch the idea with a landing page and initial hypothesis. Test it over few weeks, 4-5weeks. Do max of 2 experiments and analyse the interest and feedback. Reiterate and relaunch if not much of deviation, if a lot of deviation get back to the drawing board. $X - allocate a small sum of money for ads.

It depends on the stage. Are you trying to figure out whether something is worht pursuing or are you looking for early users to sell your idea to. For the first use case, we have been hosting an event called Idea Squash where people meet, share their ideas, and get instant feedback from other participants. If you have a diverse group of creative people around, you can try this as well!

I've tried using surveys before and find this only works with lots of money invested and the right questions...

I think Reddit is a great place to pitch your ideas, just because people are so eager to offer their opinions there! (If you find the right subreddit, especially.)

The best way is to talk directly to potential customers yourself. Ask them questions. Offer a solution and ask if they see enough of a need for this solution that they would pay for it.