Mistakes First-Time Founders Make With Idea Filters

Five mistakes that show up across most filtering sessions.

Mistake 1: Soft Filters

"There might be people who would pay" is not a yes. The filter is binary. Three named people. Otherwise, no.

Mistake 2: Inventing Filters Mid-Process

Your favorite idea fails filter 2. You invent filter 2.5 to save it. That is not filtering. That is rationalizing.

Mistake 3: Filtering Alone

You will pass your favorites. A second person filtering the same list catches blind spots. Spend 30 minutes with one outside reviewer.

Mistake 4: Skipping Reachability

You skip the reachability filter because "distribution comes later." Reachability decides how fast you learn. It is filter zero, not filter four.

Mistake 5: Treating It as a One-Time Exercise

Run filters again at month one. Your data has changed. Some ideas you killed deserve revival. Some you saved deserve killing.