This is a simple method to get a feel for whether your idea is worthwhile. All you need to do is find 5 people who say they would be keen to use your hypothetical product.

While it doesn't necessarily guarantee that the problem actually exists or that your proposed solution is good or valuable, it's the simplest way to begin validating the problem you've identified.

By setting yourself a firm goal of 5 users, you have a target to hit before you can complete this stage.

Here's an example from Rob Walling, creator of an email-marketing tool called Drip:

"I wanted to find 10 people who would be willing to pay a specific amount for the product once it was complete. This forced me to not think about features, but to distill the idea down to its core value: a single reason someone would be willing to pay me for the product. I took that and emailed 17 people I knew, or had at least heard of, who may have shared the same pain. This way, I not only had my initial customers who could provide me feedback on the details of how Drip should work, I had the start of an early base of revenue I could use to start growing the product."

If you can build a good rapport with these users and keep hold of their contact information, they might even be willing to be your first 5 customers.