Zero to Traction
Zero to Traction
Validation vs Vibes
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Validation vs Vibes

If your “validated” startup hasn’t converted a single customer, collected a dollar, or tested anything falsifiable, you’re not running a company — you’re just cosplaying.

Startup founders love to claim they’ve validated their idea — but did they run a real experiment, or just post on Product Hunt and call it proof?

In this episode, JDM and Cam play a few rounds of “Validation or Vibes,” rating three common startup claims on a scale from 0 (pure vibes) to 10 (solid validation).

Spoiler: nobody makes it past a 5, and one poor pilot gets dunked on so hard we nearly rename the show Churn Theater.

In classic Traction Lab fashion, the guys don’t just roast the claims — they also propose better experiments to replace the startup theater.

In This Episode

  • The difference between data and delusion, and why your validation roadmap needs fewer fireworks and more friction

  • Why Product Hunt launches are better at boosting egos than customer insight

  • What to do with your waitlist (hint: the answer is not “nothing”)

  • Why free pilots with no follow-on plan are startup purgatory

  • JDM’s Costco whiskey sample analogy, which will now live rent-free in your founder brain

Startup Claims Rated

  1. “We got 600 upvotes on Product Hunt and 3,000 visitors on launch day!”

    Validation Score: 3

    Diagnosis: Validation Theater

    Takeaway: Interest is not intent. Especially when no one signed up or paid.

  2. “We have 5,000 people on our waitlist and people are signing up every day.”

    Validation Score: 4 (Cam), 5 (JDM)

    Diagnosis: Waitlist Illusion

    Takeaway: A growing waitlist with zero action is just a newsletter with commitment issues.

  3. “We ran a two-week pilot with eight teams and everyone said they loved it.”

    Validation Score: 2

    Diagnosis: Churn City

    Takeaway: If they used it, loved it, and still didn’t pay you, what exactly are you validating?

Frivolous Thoughts

  • JDM begs for a single app that lets him queue audio articles from The Economist and The Atlantic and other sources into one podcast feed

  • Cam celebrates finally moving back into his house after 20 weeks in construction limbo — and immediately flooding the laundry room

  • Both hosts agree: your startup doesn’t need more feelings. It needs proof.

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