Questioning the need for validation
Do most products even need validation in the traditional sense?
Traditional being; idea -> landing page -> suitable interest -> make mvp
Unless you have a truly unique idea, which is incredibly rare, there are always competing ideas, incumbent companies or similar features who are already doing this in some shape or form. Why not just take what they have done as validation that the need exists because they are currently making boat loads of money from it even doing it poorly.
I see a lot of advice about starting with a landing page following this logic but feel a working MVP or prototype is better in getting early adopters to validate the idea properly, helping you find your use cases or understand what features are needed to launch a paid version.
I have also had this experience recently.
I followed the Lean philosophy and launched very bare bones. There wasnt much traction. As time passed and I iterated the product, removed the bugs, made the UI/UX better, traction improved. The product itself has not changed much.
IMO, several years ago people used to build expensive, polished products and launch. Then the Lean philosophy came in and now people have become so lazy that they do nothing except a landing page. The pendulum has swung too far the other way. I think a happy medium is the best course.