Idea Filters Working Well for Technical Founders

Working filters for technical founders look counterintuitive at first.

What You Should See

• Fewer ideas surviving, not more.
• You write a landing page before any code.
• You spend more time in DMs and emails than in your editor.
• The first commit happens after 10 paying-intent conversations, not before.

What You Should Not See

• v0.5 already in production while you are still filtering.
• "I will figure out distribution after I ship."
• GitHub stars treated as buyer signal.

The Real Test

Five conversations that produce a paid pilot offer in the first week. If yes, build. If no, the filter is doing its job — kill or refine.