It’s no secret that startup failure rates remain high, with the latest estimates sitting at a 90% baseline failure rate, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In response to this, Designli, a leading mobile app, software, and SaaS development agency that specializes in working with startup founders, has launched its new TractionLab program.
TractionLab is a new service designed to help first-time founders move from idea to market validation faster by combining product development with customer acquisition planning.
As such, founders are able to build a minimum viable product (MVP) and generate their first real users within 30 days and first paying customer within 90 days.
This launch is timely as 54% of founders who have their startups fail said the most important lesson they learned was the need to better understand product-market fit, per a Wilbur Labs survey.
“Too many founders spend months building products before they know whether people will actually use or pay for them,” says Keith Shields, CEO of Designli.
“This is why we started TractionLab. The sooner founders can test their assumptions with real users, the sooner they can make smarter decisions regarding their products.”
For decades, founders have been encouraged to move quickly, trust their instincts, and focus on building.
And while execution remains important, many startup failures stem from an inability to confirm that customers actually want it.
That distinction has become vital as markets grow more competitive and investors place greater emphasis on evidence of demand.
Taking all these into account, it’s not surprising that product validation has become a prerequisite for sustainable growth.
Why Product Validation Matters More Than Ever
The traditional startup playbook often prioritized development first and validation later. Today, that assumption is harder to rely on.
Founders who spend months building before testing demand can find themselves investing heavily in solutions that fail to gain traction.
When that happens, it’s easy for development and iteration costs to skyrocket, leaving startups in a financial hole well before they can monetize their product.
Or worse, the product stays in an endless development loop and never even reaches the public.
But if validation is so important, why do founders tend to skip it at all?
Shields points to several common challenges:
1. Building feels more productive than testing
Many founders are builders by nature.
When faced with uncertainty, it often feels more productive to keep developing than to pause and test assumptions with potential customers.
The problem is that progress on a product can create the illusion of progress in the market.
As a result, founders may delay validation until after significant time and resources have already been invested.
2. Reaching potential users can be difficult
Validation requires founders to get in front of real users and gather honest feedback.
For many early-stage startups, that process can feel overwhelming.
Identifying the right audience, conducting outreach, and generating meaningful conversations takes time and effort, leading some founders to postpone validation in favor of continued development.
3. Positive feedback can create false confidence
Founders often receive encouraging reactions from friends, colleagues, or potential users.
While those responses can be motivating, they do not necessarily indicate genuine demand.
"Compliments are not commitments. The moment a customer has to invest time, change behavior, or spend money, the conversation shifts from opinion to evidence," Shields says.
Because positive feedback feels reassuring, some assume validation has already occurred and continue building without testing whether actual users are willing to take meaningful action.
How TractionLab Bridges the Validation Gap
The validation gap exists because product development and market learning often happen on separate timelines.
Founders spend weeks or months building, then begin looking for users, gathering feedback, testing pricing, and evaluating demand.
And by the time meaningful market signals arrive, substantial time and resources have already been invested.
TractionLab is structured to close that gap by bringing those activities together from the start.
View this post on Instagram
That shift matters because each of the challenges discussed earlier stems from the fact that founders are making decisions without enough evidence.
The sooner evidence enters the process, the sooner assumptions can be confirmed, refined, or discarded.
In particular, TractionLab helps through the following:
MVP development
One of the most common startup mistakes is building too much before learning enough.
MVP development helps counter that tendency by focusing on the minimum functionality needed to test core assumptions.
View this post on Instagram
Instead of spending months on features customers may never use, Designli helps founders get a working digital solution in front of real users in 30 days and observe how they respond.
As such, founders learn what resonates, what confuses users, and what needs improvement before investing heavily in development.
User acquisition planning
By incorporating acquisition planning from the start, TractionLab helps founders determine where target users spend time, how they evaluate solutions, and which channels are most likely to generate meaningful conversations.
“Too many founders wait until after they’ve built something to think about how they’ll reach customers because they’re often told that ‘a great product will sell itself,’” Shields says.
“In reality, great products are designed around customer needs from the beginning. Validation and acquisition shouldn’t be afterthoughts. It’s how you learn what customers actually want and what they’ll pay for.”
This helps avoid gathering feedback from people who are unlikely to become customers.
By focusing outreach on likely buyers, founders can collect more relevant feedback, identify demand faster, and avoid drawing conclusions from the wrong audience.
Early feedback collection
Rather than relying on isolated conversations, structured feedback helps identify recurring customer needs, objections, and behaviors. This gives founders a clearer basis for decision-making.
Instead of reacting to every suggestion, they can prioritize changes that address widespread customer concerns and improve the product in ways that are more likely to increase adoption.
View this post on Instagram
Market validation processes
Market validation processes test whether potential users are willing to move beyond expressing interest and take measurable steps toward adoption.
That may include joining a waitlist, participating in trials, scheduling demonstrations, or engaging with the product in meaningful ways.
These actions provide stronger signals than verbal feedback alone.
They help founders determine whether customers are motivated enough to invest time and attention, offering a more realistic picture of market demand before scaling further.
Validate Before You Scale
Startup culture often celebrates growth, fundraising, and rapid expansion. Yet many of those outcomes depend on proving that customers genuinely want what is being built.
Validation may not generate the same attention as growth metrics, but it often determines whether growth is sustainable.
And programs like TractionLab reflect that shift in thinking.
Because in the end, a product idea only becomes a business when customers decide it's worth paying for.
