The build was never the risky part. Not knowing whether anyone actually wants what you're building is.
Most first-time founders spend three months building a product before they've had ten real conversations with the people they're building it for. By the time they launch, they've invested too much to want honest feedback — and by then it's too late to pivot cheaply.
Validation before code
A landing page describing the product, a waitlist, and 20 direct conversations with your target user will tell you more than three months of silent building. If you can't get 20 strangers mildly interested in a one-paragraph description, a working product won't fix that problem.
The "would you pay" test
Interest is not validation. The question that matters isn't "would this be useful?" — almost everything sounds useful. The question is "would you pay for this today, and how much?" Vague enthusiasm without a specific price point in mind usually means the pain isn't strong enough yet.
What to do before writing a single feature
Write the one-sentence description of the problem you solve. Send it to 20 people in your target audience. Count how many ask "when can I use this?" without being prompted. That number tells you more than any amount of code will.