Compliments don't count. Evidence is what people did.
Track what you believe and how strong the evidence is. Praise never counts as proof, and a test's pass line is set first.
14 days free. No card needed.
How to validate a startup idea: the evidence ladder.
A belief is something that must be true for your product to work. A card moves right on the ladder only when someone did something.
- PraiseNever counts as proof
- Past painThey did something about it
- Asks for accessWants it before it exists
- Gives timeA call, a test, a trial
- Makes an introPuts their name on it
- PaysMoney, before or after
- "I'd pay for that" is Praise. Past pain counts only when unprompted.
- Your own lines, and your teammates', never count.
- Pays is reached only through a test whose line you locked first.
Customer discovery calls, captured with consent.
Drop a transcript and record consent. Mind pulls their exact words, leaves out yours, and marks what you prompted.
- No tick, no transcript: kept only when they agreed to be recorded.
- Add someone new as you save the call: in People, with the conversation.
- Keep your interview questions as call guides, and pick one per call.
Customer discovery that checks your questions, not only theirs.
Checks your interview questions before the call, how the call went after it, and prices from what customers actually said. Rules do most of it, at once and free.
Each question you plan to ask is checked against six rules, with a better question about the past. After the call, the call check counts who talked more and which of your questions led. The rules catch common patterns, not every one.
A pass line you set before the test starts.
Set the pass line before the test starts; results can't be edited afterwards. Say what you expect, what you count, and what a pass moves the belief to.
- After Start and lock, only the deadline moves, and the move is logged.
- Log results by hand, import a payments CSV, or read a Stripe Payment Link.
- The verdict is recorded at the deadline; a correction is a new verdict.
Decisions, with the evidence as it stood.
The log of your calls: build, test first, not now, no, or a pick among options. Each keeps its reason, who decided, whether it is a one-way door, and a review date.
The evidence is frozen as it stood and never recomputed. Revisit a decision and the new one supersedes the old, with the chain shown. Today reminds you when a review date passes.
Questions about beliefs, conversations and tests
Something else? Search the help center or email us.
Does MindBacklog record my calls?
No. Record them in your call tool (Zoom, Meet, Fireflies), then paste the transcript or drop its file. A transcript is kept only when you tick that they agreed to be recorded. Mind reads only their turns, never yours.
What counts as Past pain?
A specific time it hurt, described unprompted. An answer to your own leading question is Praise, and so is "I'd pay for that". A card moves right on the ladder only when someone did something.
Can I change a test's line after it starts?
No. Once you start and lock a test, the line, the metric, what a pass moves and your own call cannot change. Only the deadline moves, and the move is logged with its reason. Results are voided with a reason, never deleted.
What happens to the raw transcript?
The raw text goes at the retention day a product admin sets: 30, 90 or 365 days. Quotes stay until you redact or erase them. Delete a conversation and everything it moved goes with it, with a 24-hour undo.
Does Mind tell me the right price?
No. Price guardrails give you a floor from your costs and a ceiling from what your main segment said about money, each quote with its conversation. No AI, and never an outside benchmark. The test price is yours to set.
Find out what's true before you build.
Write down the belief that would sink you if it were false. Then go and get evidence that counts.
- 14 days free
- No card needed
- Viewers are free
