# Demand Research Checklist (run BEFORE building)

Do all five checks for every idea you take seriously. Total time: one evening.

## 1. Marketplaces prove people pay
- [ ] Searched Gumroad Discover for the idea + 2 adjacent keywords
- [ ] Searched Etsy digital / Creative Market / itch.io as relevant
- [ ] Noted: top sellers, their price points, their review counts
- [ ] 2+ products in the category have 50+ reviews (proof of buyers)

## 2. Search autocomplete = demand phrasing
- [ ] Typed the topic into Google/YouTube/Amazon/Gumroad search boxes
- [ ] Saved 10 exact autocomplete phrases (these become titles/descriptions)
- [ ] Read "People also ask" — noted the 3 most repeated questions

## 3. Communities ask weekly
- [ ] Found 3–5 subreddits/Discords/FB groups where buyers gather
- [ ] Searched the community for the idea's keywords (sort: new)
- [ ] Found the golden pattern: recurring question with no good free answer

## 4. Competitor 2–3 star reviews = free roadmap
- [ ] Read 20 reviews of the category leader, filtered to 2–3 stars
- [ ] Listed the 5 most repeated "I wish it did X"

## 5. My own repeated work = first customer
- [ ] Listed anything I've built for myself more than once
- [ ] Marked which list item overlaps with signals 1–4

## The validation sentence (all blanks = observed evidence, not opinions)
> **[Who]** pays for **[what]** because **[pain]**, and buys it **[where]**.

- [ ] Sentence filled for the idea
- [ ] Idea entered the `idea-backlog.md` aging file