That’s a good thing. In fact, I believe entrepreneurs should actively develop this fear. Nurture it. Use it.

In 2016, I decided to start building a new software product from my company, Audience Ops. This would require a massive investment of money, time, and resources. As a self-funded company, this is not an investment—or a risk—that I take lightly.

Yet, here we are. Product development is underway. This thing is a go.

Over a 6-week period, I went from “just an idea” to a vetted product concept with 14 pre-paid customers, over $3,000 in first revenue, and enough confidence to go forward with this new product—all before I hired a developer to write a single line of code.

Today, I’ll take you step-by-step through each hurdle in the validation process. The most important thing when you’re validating your own product is to understand how your mindset changes the more you mitigate risk. I’ll share how my mindset changed as I went through this process for our new SaaS product.