In a recent LinkedIn post, Daniel Priestley offers a critical piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs launching new ventures this year: the ‘150 test’. He emphasizes that before committing significant resources, founders should validate their business ideas by gauging market interest through a rigorous pre-launch process.
Priestley’s core recommendation is to test the viability of an idea by aiming to build a waitlist of 150 interested individuals. He frames this as a minimum threshold to assess both the demand for a product or service and the effort required to generate that interest.
“My minimum threshold: can I get 150 people on a waitlist, and how hard was it?”
Validating Business Concepts Through the 150 Test
According to Daniel Priestley, the process begins with identifying potential business concepts and then creating distinct landing pages for each. This approach allows for targeted testing of different value propositions.
Developing Targeted Landing Pages
Priestley suggests selecting three distinct business ideas and developing three corresponding landing pages. Each page should clearly articulate the offering, the target audience, and the problem it solves. As he outlines:
“Pick three ideas, then run three landing pages: ‘We’re launching X for this type of person, solving this type of problem.'”
Building and Warming the Waitlist
Beyond just collecting sign-ups, Priestley highlights the importance of incentivizing potential customers to join the waitlist. He advises offering a compelling reason to commit, such as exclusive access to a community, valuable content, or early-bird discounts. Once the list is established, the next crucial step is to engage with these early adopters.
Daniel Priestley argues that nurturing this initial group is key to refining the offering and building momentum. This involves asking targeted questions to understand their needs better and then actively warming the list with relevant communication.
“Then ask five questions and start warming the list up.”
The Strategic Advantage of Pre-Launch Validation
In Daniel Priestley’s view, the ‘150 test’ serves as a powerful risk-mitigation strategy. By focusing on generating a waitlist, entrepreneurs can gain invaluable insights into market demand and customer acquisition challenges before investing heavily in product development or marketing campaigns. This data-driven approach, as outlined by Priestley, helps ensure that new businesses are launched with a higher probability of success, grounded in genuine market interest rather than assumptions.
Priestley also subtly points towards further resources for those interested in his business-building methodologies, mentioning a blueprint on building ‘Scorecards’ for businesses, available via a provided link.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Daniel Priestley on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on March 4, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →