Let's take a look at how you might explore 6 different product ideas.

Let's consider how our batch of 6 great ideas fares when we put it through the Lean Validation Process...

1. This idea fails at the first hurdle as we can't validate the problem.
2. This idea validates the problem, but can't establish a market.
3. This one also fails at problem validation.
4. This validates the problem and market, but fails to validate the product.
5. This demonstrates a pivot of Idea #4. Perhaps our first prototype failed, so we decide to build a new one. This time, we can learn from our mistakes and take a different approach. This idea successfully validates the product, but fails to validate willingness to pay.
6. This final idea successfully validates all 4 stages. Of this batch of ideas, this is the one we should explore and develop further.

As you'll see, many of your great ideas will fail early in the process. It's incredibly common to find out that the problem you're trying to solve is simply not a problem that users are really bothered about. But with perseverance and iteration, you can come up with a product idea that successfully validates

You might notice that the probability of validating each phase is rather low. You might need to finetune your original idea to address a more pressing problem you've discovered. This is absolutely fine. In fact, it's encouraged. Being flexible and keeping an open mind about adapting your idea can pay off handsomely if done right. And that's why this lean validation process pushes you to fail soon and fail quickly, before you get too attached to the idea or product.

Note that the criteria above, along with their sequencing, are all simply recommended guidelines. The ultimate goal is to be as lean as possible, and you're the one in the best position to decide what that means.