Many people ask ChatGPT if their business idea is good—and still get stuck. This is a practical guide to using ChatGPT for validation, not encouragement, so you can find out early if anyone will actually pay.
You have a business idea. Maybe you've had it for months. Maybe you even started building something, then stopped. Maybe you promised yourself to make it happen by the new year?
But it’s blocked by the common paralysis: "Is this even good? What do I build first? How do I know anyone will pay? Will I just waste time doing this?" And most general advice can be useless in situations like this: "Just start!" (start what?) or "Do market research" (how?)
This post gives you a practical way to validate your idea with real customers before you write any code, buy goods or spend months building.
Start With the Right Questions
The most common question people ask ChatGPT at this stage is: "Is this a good idea?" That question is almost useless. Without strict instructions, ChatGPT will politely encourage you. That’s what it’s designed to do.
The goal here isn’t validation. It’s information. You’re trying to understand who actually has the problem so you can go talk to them.
Give this ChatGPT:
You are working as my business coach. I'm thinking of building a business. Help me understand:
1. Who are the 3-5 most likely specific customer segments?
2. For each segment: What's their current solution? What do they hate about it? What would make them pay for something new?
3. What are the realistic obstacles to getting my first 10 paying customers?
Start by asking for my idea and who is it for. Propose potential answers to each section once you have had my idea.
This forces specificity and surfaces real friction instead of polite encouragement.
What you get back
Pick one customer segment. The most specific one. Not just "freelancers" - "freelance designers who lose hours on client revision requests." Not just "busy parents" - "working parents who meal plan on Sunday and still order takeout by Wednesday."
Find the workaround that hurts. What are they doing today that clearly sucks? That’s what you’re replacing. “Manually copy-pasting feedback from email into Figma comments. Rewriting the same proposal from scratch every time.”
Pay attention to the objections ChatGPT surfaces. Don’t dismiss them. These are hypotheses you’ll test with real people.
If ChatGPT can’t describe a concrete pain, you probably have a solution looking for a problem. If the existing solutions are “free and good enough,” charging will be hard. And if you can’t narrow this down to a single clear segment, you’re not ready to validate yet.
Find Something You Can Sell Today
You’re still not ready to build. But you are ready to sell the outcome.
Selling first gives you signal. And the only signal that matters at this stage is money. Not because money is the only measure of success, but because “I’d pay for that” forces honesty in a way “sounds interesting” never does. Anyone can take things for free.
Go back to ChatGPT:
Based on this customer segments above. Help me create a validation approach:
1. Where do these people hang out online and in the real world?
2. How would I describe what I'm offering in one sentence?
3. What's the smallest version I could deliver manually to test if they'd pay?
4. What should I ask them in a 15-minute conversation? Remember to add “why not” questions and counter proposals when they answer “no”.
What you get back
A one‑sentence pitch that describes the outcome, not the product: “I help freelance designers handle client revisions without endless email back‑and‑forth.”
Specific places to find them: subreddits, LinkedIn (job title + pain keywords), Slack or Discord communities, niche forums. Sometimes even just… talking to them in real life.
And most importantly, a validation offer you can deliver this week. Not “I’ll build an app in six months,” but something like:
- “I’ll handle your next round of client revisions manually for $50.”
- “I’ll design a custom Figma revision workflow for $30.”
- “I’ll do this for your next three clients for $100 total.”
You’re testing whether people will pay for the outcome before you invest in making it scalable.
ChatGPT will also generate interview questions: How do you handle this today? What’s the most frustrating part? What have you tried? Why didn’t it work? If I solved this, would it matter? Would you pay $X? Why not? Would $Y make more sense?
Actually Talking to Potential Customers
This is the uncomfortable part. It's also where you actually learn if your idea has real demand or if you've solving an imaginary problem. A solution in search of a problem.
Post in the communities you identified: “I’m researching how people deal with [problem]. Is anyone else struggling with this?” When someone replies: “Thanks for sharing—would you be open to a 15‑minute call? I’m trying to understand this better.”
Most people won’t reply. Some will. A few will talk. Your goal is 10–15 conversations.
What happens on the call
For the first ten minutes, ask questions and listen. Let them explain their workflow and frustrations in their own words. In the last five minutes, present your validation offer and ask directly: “Would you pay $X for this?”
You’re not testing whether the idea is interesting. You’re trying to understand what is the problem they have and testing whether someone will give you money now for the solution you are offering.
The reality
You will get a lot of no’s. That’s expected—and it’s exactly what you want. In fact, these moments are often the most valuable part of this entire process.
A no is the moment you can do immediate research. Don’t argue it. Counter it. What if the price were X? What if it were delivered differently? What if the scope were smaller? Each answer tightens your understanding of where the real boundary is. This is rapid iteration in conversation form: propose, get a no, adjust, repeat. You’re mapping the edge of willingness to pay.
Eventually, a few people won’t hesitate. They’ll say “Yes. How does this work?” and pay. You now know exactly what people won’t buy, under which conditions, and why.
After Validation, the Problem Changes
Let’s say it worked. You have paying customers. You’re delivering, even if it’s manual. Now the questions shift: Should you build feature X or talk to more customers? Automate this workflow or keep it scrappy? Work on marketing today or product improvements? Handle this urgent request or invest in something strategic?
You’ll have an endless list of things you could do and very limited time to do them. The real challenge becomes deciding where your effort has the highest impact. Every single day.
This is where ChatGPT starts to show its limits. It’s excellent for short‑lived expert advice. But as a purely chat‑based tool, it struggles with long‑term continuity. Context gets fuzzy. Priorities drift. Re‑explaining and arguing about your business every morning becomes its own form of work.
The Right Tool for the Next Phase
At this stage, you need something that remembers what you’ve learned about your customers, what you’ve already validated, and what’s currently in motion. Something that helps you choose the right next step based on your actual situation—not just the last prompt you typed.
This is the gap between research tools and execution tools. And this is where the idea of an AI co-founder starts to make sense. ChatGPT is excellent for exploration and early validation. Long‑term execution is a different problem entirely. Tools like Copreneur are built for that phase: continuity, memory, and decision support over time, so you’re not constantly losing context or second‑guessing what matters most.
Conclusion
Validate before you build. Use ChatGPT to research, structure your thinking, and design validation tests. Talk to real people. Ask for money early. But understand this: validation isn’t the hard part in the long run. Execution is.
Once people start paying, the real risk isn’t lack of motivation—it’s losing focus. Knowing what to work on next, day after day, when everything feels important and time is always scarce. That’s the part most founders underestimate, usually right up until they’re buried in half‑finished ideas and reactive decisions. It’s worth thinking about that phase early—while you still have the space to set yourself up to execute well.