Free tool · Start Your Business series
Is Your Business Idea Actually Good?
A brutally honest 5-minute validator that scores your idea across 5 dimensions: problem, market, competition, money, founder fit. Get specific, no-fluff feedback before you invest a penny.
- 15 quick questions
- About 5 minutes
- No sign-up
- 100% free
You started this validator recently. Want to pick up where you left off?
Dimension 1 of 5
Defining your audience is the hardest part of launching. If you’d like a second opinion, book a free 15-minute call.
Monetisation is where many ideas come unstuck. If you’d like help with your model, book a free 15-minute call.
Your idea
Most pre-launch ideas score 35 to 55%
Dimension Breakdown
How your idea scored across each of the 5 dimensions. Click a bar to jump to the honest feedback.
Honest Feedback
Sorted weakest first. Tackle the top one and the rest follow. No fluff, no flattery.
Your next step
Your next step: a website
When the idea is ready, the website is next
Send us a WhatsApp with what your idea is and we will tell you what a first website needs, free and with no obligation.
Starter websites £900, Business websites £1,500. Fixed prices, no VAT to add.
Start Your Business toolkit
Continue Your Launch Journey
Free tools for people who haven’t launched yet, from idea to live website. 3 free tools
Online Business Starter Audit
AVAILABLE NOWAudit
Score your launch readiness across 8 categories in 5 minutes. Get a personalised roadmap.
Open toolBusiness Idea Validator
YOU’RE HEREValidation
Score your idea on problem, market, competition, money and founder fit in 5 minutes.
Current toolWebsite Cost Calculator
AVAILABLE NOWCost
Answer 4 questions to see which fixed-price website package fits, with first-year costs.
Open toolWant this validation as a PDF?
Download it now and keep it to hand while you work through it.
About this validator
Why business ideas fail.
An idea is easy to fall in love with before anyone has tested it. The validator asks you to assess it honestly first, while changing course is still cheap.
Most ideas fail in one of five places. The problem isn’t painful enough: people would love a solution but wouldn’t pay for it. The market is too vague: "small business owners" isn’t a customer, it’s a Wikipedia category. The competition is misread, either ignored entirely or assumed to be irrelevant. The monetisation is hand-waved: "we’ll figure it out later". Or there’s a founder-market mismatch: someone outside the world they want to serve, building for an audience they’ve never sat with.
The validator asks 15 questions across those five areas and gives you back honest feedback in plain English, with action items for the weakest ones. It takes about 5 minutes, it’s free and it doesn’t ask for an email.
A low score doesn’t mean your idea is bad. It means specific dimensions need work. A high score doesn’t mean you’ll succeed, but it means the foundations are in place, which is more than most pre-launch founders can say. Either way, you leave with a clearer view of where you actually are.
The 5 dimensions
How this validator works
Each dimension scores 0 to 100% based on your answers. Weak dimensions get specific, mentor-style feedback. Strong dimensions get sharper recommendations to compound what you’re already doing right.
The Problem
Let’s pressure-test the problem you’re solving. Real problems beat clever solutions every time.
The Market
Who are you really building for, and can you reach them? Vague markets kill more startups than bad code.
The Competition
No competition is rarely a good sign. Let’s see what you’re up against and where you can win.
The Money
How does this idea actually make money? Founders skip this question for years, at huge cost.
Founder Fit
Are you the right person to build this, right now? Founder-market fit is the silent killer.
Who this is for
Built for one of these three founders
If this is you
I have an idea but I’m not sure it’s worth pursuing
You keep going back and forth between excited and doubtful. The validator gives you a structured way to assess instead of guessing, and tells you exactly which dimensions are weak so you know what to work on first.
If this is you
I’ve been told it’s a great idea by friends and family
Polite friends are the worst validation source. They tell you the idea is "amazing" because they like you. This tool gives you the unfiltered version, the one your future self will thank you for.
If this is you
I’m choosing between 2 to 3 ideas and want to compare them
Validate each idea separately and compare the scores side by side. The share button lets you save and revisit results without an account, perfect for spreadsheet-driven founder decisions.
Start Your Business toolkit
Part of the Start Your Business toolkit
The Idea Validator is the natural starting point: it answers "is this worth building?". Once your idea scores 55%+, take the Online Business Starter Audit next to score your launch readiness across the 8 foundational areas.
Score your launch readiness across 8 categories in 5 minutes. Get a personalised roadmap.
Score your idea on problem, market, competition, money and founder fit in 5 minutes.
Answer 4 questions to see which fixed-price website package fits, with first-year costs.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The questions we hear most from founders thinking about validating an idea.
How long does this take?
About 5 minutes. The 15 questions are built to be answered quickly: there are no essay boxes and no figures to look up. The optional idea description at the start takes another 30 seconds if you choose to write it. If you’re interrupted, your progress saves automatically and you can resume on the same device.
Is this really brutally honest, or just another idea-cheerleader tool?
Genuinely honest. The feedback is direct, sometimes uncomfortably so. We tell founders when their idea has critical weaknesses, not just where it’s strong. That said, "honest" doesn’t mean "cruel": every weakness comes with specific action items to fix it. The point is to save you from spending a year on an idea that needed a week of refinement.
What’s the difference between this and the Starter Audit?
The Business Idea Validator pressure-tests the IDEA: is this thing worth building at all? It looks at the problem, market, competition, monetisation and your fit as a founder. The Online Business Starter Audit comes after. It assumes you’ve picked an idea and scores your readiness to actually launch (legal, branding, hosting, SEO, payments, analytics). Take this first; take the Starter Audit when this scores 55%+.
Should I take this before or after the Starter Audit?
Before. The Idea Validator is the first checkpoint: it answers "is this worth building?". If your validation score is below 55%, fix the idea before worrying about the launch checklist. If it’s 55%+, move on to the Starter Audit. If you’ve already started building, you can take both back-to-back. They fit together.
Can I validate multiple ideas?
Yes, and many founders do. Take the validator for each idea separately, write a unique idea description for each, and compare the scores side by side. The share button generates a URL with all your answers encoded, so you can save and revisit results for different ideas without an account.
Will my idea description be shared with anyone?
No. Your idea description stays in your browser via localStorage and is never sent to us. The PDF report is built in your browser too. If you want to talk it through, you can book a free 15-minute call.
What scores are "good"?
Most pre-launch ideas score 35 to 55% on first attempt. That’s normal: you’re building, not finished. A score of 56 to 75% means you’re in genuine launch territory. 76%+ is rare and usually means founder-market fit is exceptional. Below 30% means there are critical issues that will cost you serious time and money if you ignore them. Don’t panic, just refine.
What if I disagree with the feedback?
Push back. The feedback follows a fixed framework and every business is different. If a piece of feedback doesn’t match your context, take what’s useful and leave the rest. If you want a person to weigh in, book a free 15-minute call and we’ll talk it through.
Can I retake this later?
Yes, and you should, every few weeks while you’re refining. Watching your score climb from 40% to 65% over a couple of months is the clearest signal you’re making real progress. There’s a "Retake the validator" button on the results page, plus a share link if you want to send results to a co-founder.
What’s the next step after I get my results?
If you scored under 55%, work through the action items in your weakest dimensions and come back in 2 to 4 weeks. If you scored 55%+, move on to the Online Business Starter Audit: that’s where you map the foundations and build your launch roadmap. Either way, if you’d like a second pair of eyes, book a free 15-minute call.
Need a website that brings in enquiries?
Message us on WhatsApp with what your business does and we will suggest the right package, free and with no obligation. Or pick the service that fits.
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Build you a new website
From £900
Fast, mobile-friendly websites with SEO set up from launch. Fixed prices from £900, no VAT to add.
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Find what to fix
£295
SEO Audit: a full review of your site, a prioritised fix list and a 30-minute call to walk you through it.
See SEO services -
Grow your traffic every month
From £250 a month
on the 6-month plan, £1,500 paid upfront
Monthly SEO: technical, local and content work with plain-English reporting. No long contracts: SEO plans run for 1, 3 or 6 months, paid upfront, and nothing renews automatically.
See Monthly SEO
Or call 020 8050 4108.