[codingdave]

Maybe it is because I'm older, but whenever I see this advice to build a fake landing page and see if people sign up... I recall that selling vaporware was reviled in the 90s, but somehow now it is considered a wise business tool. It still feels scammy to me. If you have a market in mind, but don't have people in that market to talk to directly to validate your idea, you are aiming at the wrong market. Otherwise all these techniques prove is that you can collect emails, not that those emails will actually become paying customers.

[codysc]

You're not alone. This has always felt scammy. It's a little more gray-area than some of the traditional vapor-ware which was more about driving competition out of business by large players, but still something I try to avoid.

[nogabebop23]

I'm older too. Maybe the issue is if the central premise is vapourware or components/add-on features So maybe if the author automated the metadata collection, ran some filtering on it and then had a fitness pro sanity check the results? I agree that this oft-recommended "idea validation" process sounds a lot like this scene from Silicon Valley, without the clarification at the end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1QPXyebhiY&t=8m26s

[libertine]

Just clarify your perspective - Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other crowdsourcing platforms are even more scammy, because they go the next step and ask for money, not just an email?

[codingdave]

No - those examples are quite clear that the product does not exist, and are seeking funding to build something.

[libertine]

Ah got it!

So if a landing page states the same, a product is being developed and if people have interest to follow it, drop their email, that's ok right?

[codingdave]

Yes, exactly. There is nothing wrong with honest communication, stating that you are thinking about building a product. The problem is when people write pages acting like the product already exists, collecting emails under false pretenses.

[libertine]

Thank you for clarifying, agree with you 100%!