I almost built a product for the wrong reason

A few months ago, I had an idea that looked pretty convincing on paper.

The problem sounded real.
The market existed.
There were already competitors.
And I could clearly imagine how the product would work.

The dangerous part?

I had done almost everything except proving that the problem was painful enough for someone to change their current behavior.

That made me rethink what I call “validation.”

I used to think validation was mostly about asking people whether they liked an idea.

Now I’m much more interested in what people are already doing.

Are they paying for something?

Are they using a workaround?

Are they spending time solving the problem manually?

Are they actively looking for a better solution?

Those signals tell me much more than a positive answer in a conversation.

It also changed how I look at competitors.

I used to see competition as a reason to reconsider an idea.

Now I often see it as evidence that a problem may already have a market — while still asking why someone would choose a new solution.

I’m still figuring out the right balance between research, customer conversations, and simply building something and putting it in front of people.

One thing I’ve become much more cautious about is falling in love with an idea before I have enough evidence to challenge it.

That has probably saved me more time than any productivity trick.

Curious to hear from other makers who have been through this: what convinced you to stop building an idea?