How many users does it take to validate a product?
When you're a first-time founder/maker, and you're the only person using your own product, you probably overlook important things. That's why you need to test the product with as many people as possible.
The problem is that time is limited. You have to decide not only how many people will test it, but also who those people should be.
Yesterday, I launched my Chrome extension for the first time publicly, and my goal is to get feedback from at least 20 testers.
People either describe their experience in writing or I watch them use the product during a call.
My testing group consists of:
Developers and UX/UI designers – people with experience who understand common patterns and expected behavior.
People who have the problem the tool solves – my potential users.
If both groups point out the same issue or suggest the same improvement, it almost always becomes a top priority in the roadmap.
What makes feedback relevant to you?
The number of testers?
The mix of respondents?
Or the way the feedback is collected?
Finding: Developers were able to give me detailed and more accurate feedback than users itself. Developers spotted many things, recommended things while user said: It's okay. :D
Replies
ProblemHunt
Nika, wow — releasing your own product that solves your own problem is truly commendable, because that kind of thing is rare. And considering that most people only think about doing something but rarely follow through, you actually managed to take your product to release. That's awesome, keep it up 👏
And I hope you get so many users that it becomes a "new problem" for you — in a good way 😄
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@gostroverhov Thank you! One of your problems on the website of the @ProblemHunt made me to realise that this issue is going beyond me and more people struggle :D it gave me courage. :D
Hi Nika, congratulations on launching your chrome extension. I just found out that people only test your product when there is an incentive. They might read about it and move. How did you get 20 testers for your extension, I am interested because I have a chrome extension I need to launch too? Taking a product from founder to many users is a challenge but I think the number of users does not necessarily validate the product. I see validation as reviews and how many feedbacks you actually receive from any user. Obviously as your user base grows then you will be able completely validate your product. In the meantime if it works for you and the few users, your product works! That's what counts. No business idea is fully formed at the beginning, it evolves and grow.
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@richatsealedvault Hey Richard, I was talking about the problem on LinkedIn (because I was restricted there) + PH threads + DMed people (this one proved to be the strongest one).
UXDesigner.top
I've been working for a couple of months in a tool for designers and product teams (BenchCanvas). Right now it is in private beta with 400+ people on the waitlist and ~150 using the product, I've interviewed around 20 of them and based on their feedback, I've been able to build a stable version of the product.
I still feel like I need stronger validation so I'm now talking with product and design teams at a few companies to bring them on as "design partners" and run a more rigorous test of the product and turn the experience into a case study when launching publicly.
If anyone here is part of a design/product team and wants to give it a try, just reply here :)
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@david_martin_suarez How did you collect those peope for the waitlist?
UXDesigner.top
@busmark_w_nika First, I built a nice landing page with a video demo, examples of the main features, and a simple form to join the waitlist. Then, I started talking about the project on Reddit, Product Hunt, and in Slack and Discord communities, but mainly on LinkedIn, which I think has worked best.
One of my biggest learnings was that it’s much more effective to talk about the building process and share examples through animated GIFs and product videos, rather than simply asking people to sign up.
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@david_martin_suarez This is solid, I do not have a page at all. :D But it is on my list after fixing the basic things :D
I think the quality of feedback often matters more than the number of testers. A hundred users who don’t have the problem you’re solving may provide less useful insight than ten users who deeply experience the pain point.
I also like the combination of expert users and target users you mentioned. Experts can identify usability issues and broken patterns quickly, while actual users reveal whether the product creates real value in their workflow.
One thing I’d add is that feedback should be weighted by behavior, not just opinions. Someone saying “this is interesting” is very different from someone repeatedly using the product, integrating it into their routine, or asking for a missing feature. Early validation is not only about collecting feedback — it’s about finding signals that people would genuinely miss the product if it disappeared.
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@stephanie_t0317 How can I then track how "real users" perceive the tool? Because sometimes they do not know how to describe it as they do not have a background in UX/UI or development? Like heatmap integrations or?
For me, it's definitely the mix of respondents and how feedback is collected.
Developers and UX designers are great at spotting technical bugs and edge cases, but actual target users show you real behavior and willingness to use/pay. I find that watching users interact during a call (qualitative) gives much deeper insights than just written surveys!
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@abusaid_islam_said Where would you recommend me to find those users who has restriction experience? Because when they were restricted, they usually go to other platforms and donot wanna have anything with LI.
@busmark_w_nika To find users who faced LinkedIn restrictions, check Reddit (r/LinkedIn or r/sales) and X (Twitter) by searching for 'LinkedIn restricted'.
People usually complain on those platforms right after getting blocked. B2B outreach and lead gen communities on Slack/Facebook are also full of people dealing with this exact problem!
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@abusaid_islam_said But will not be a bit invasive? :D
@busmark_w_nika Not if you focus on helping rather than selling!
People who just got restricted are usually looking for advice or a place to vent. If you reach out asking about their experience or offering feedback, it feels like a helpful conversation rather than cold spam.
We've separated the product and target audience tests to alpha and beta. This worked better for us as our product required a lot of data engineering to be ready while the UI/UX could already be tested.
For the private alpha we had 10 people. Mainly UI/UX and product oriented testers. For each tester we did first a product walk through and the participants asked questions during it. Later we had another meeting once they've had a chance to test their product on their own.
The goal of the alpha was to make sure that the product was good enough for initial pilot clients, and for the beta test. It took us about 4 months to fix all the issues and improve the product to be ready for the next stage. During this time we've also had some pilot clients that gave us further feedback.
For beta were going to target around 100 users, all of who we hope will be target users. For beta our goal will be to understand how the users interact with the product, and how well we are able to retain them. Our goal for the beta test will be to get data to understand the usage of the product and even find new features to build (that users are willing to pay for).
Hope this answers your question.
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@ekin_tuna Thank you for clarifying! :) Were those alpha testers from any paid website? Or how did you access them?
@busmark_w_nika They were from my own network, mainly people I've worked with. I don't have experience with paid sites. Happy to test what you have though if you need a tester :)
Your finding might be pointing at something other than developers being better testers.
Developers critique products for a living, so "here is what is wrong and why" is their native format. A regular user has no practice at that, and when you ask them to evaluate, you put them in a role they never signed up for. "It's okay" is not the absence of a signal. It is politeness covering a signal you cannot get by asking.
Which makes the unit different per group. Developers you can measure in what they say. Users you have to measure in what they do, and the honest number is not how many tested it, it is how many opened it again on day two without you prompting them.
Of your 20, how many came back unasked?
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@abdullah_javaid3 Do you mean how many kept the plugin? Because I cannot see this data yet in the dashboard, they are refreshing after 48 hours.
@busmark_w_nika Not kept, used. Kept is passive, an extension nobody ever opens again still counts as installed, because uninstalling takes a deliberate trip to the toolbar that most people never bother making. Install retention will flatter you.
The number I meant is the one where someone triggered it again on a different day without you asking. Same person, second session, no prompt from you. Twenty testers who each used it once is a demo. Three who came back on day two is the first real signal you have.
When the 48 hours are up, is per user session count something the dashboard will actually show you, or only totals?
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@abdullah_javaid3 I think that the dashboard can show you the patterns over time – how many downloaded in total, uninstalls, how many keep using it. But it is not accessible at the moment.
@busmark_w_nika Downloads, uninstalls and weekly users are counts of the store. None of them is a count of a person coming back. Weekly active gets closest and still hides it, since twenty people who opened it once in a week and twenty who opened it every day can land on the same number.
That number has to come from inside the extension. Fire one event on activation with a random id kept in local storage, then count the ids that appear on two different dates.
The 48 hours will give you a shape. It will not give you a cohort.
I've found the number matters less than the quality of the signal. Five users who match your exact target and hit a real pain point tell you more than fifty random sign-ups. What's helped me is watching for consistent, unprompted reactions to the same problem rather than polite "this is cool" feedback. Once 3-4 people describe the same frustration in their own words, that's usually a stronger validation signal than any headcount. Curious how others separate genuine pull from friendly encouragement.
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@harmeet_singh13 Well, but at least downloads from other people can help you in the Chrome Web Store to climb the ladder and also help with the search in Chrome.
@busmark_w_nika I would say 20 to 100 fair enough
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@thomas_ogun Still I am behind :D
Depends on the kinds of tests, and the results :)
If you're looking for usability tests, ie. people to use your chrome extension and give specific feedback on design, UX or features - then as little as 5 people can be enough if* you're seeing very consistent patterns in their feedback.
If clear patterns are not emerging yet, keep gathering feedback (20-30 should do it). If you aren't seeing consistent feedback that's usually a signal that something is wrong in the test methodology - perhaps the mix of respondents is too varied, the questions or interview is not consistent or something else.
And a best practice when it comes to getting product feedback is watch what people do, not what they say... We often underestimate how hard it is to articulate our experiences, and how common it is.
Developers undoubtedly may have a more trained eye for product improvements, but if they are not your target user then you must siift through the "it's okay" messages!