Validating a product before you price it
Evidence a stranger can check, in the order that changes the number most.
Last reviewed 2026-07-28 · next review 2027-01-24
Validation is not a badge. It is the set of claims about your product that someone else can independently confirm.
Four axes carry almost all the weight. Ownership: does a DNS record you control prove the domain is yours, and does a company registry entry name you. Revenue: does an independent export match the number in the listing. Traffic: does an analytics property you can grant read access to match the claim. Cost: is the profit figure net of everything, including your own time priced at something.
The reason to work through them in that order is that they gate each other. Unverified ownership makes verified revenue meaningless — revenue from what. Verified revenue with no cost breakdown gives a profit figure nobody can trust, and profit is what the multiple is applied to.
A profile is only as strong as its weakest axis, because that is how a careful buyer reads it.