Find 10 People Who Want What You'll Teach

You don’t need a big audience to validate a course. You need 10 people.

Ten people who have the problem you solve, who acknowledge it’s a problem, and who might pay you to help them solve it. Find those 10 and you have enough signal to move forward or pivot.

This lesson gives you a repeatable system for finding them.

The “Who Do You Know” List

Start with what you already have. Open a spreadsheet or a notebook. Create three columns: Name, Connection, Problem Status.

Brainstorm every person you know who might fit your target student. Don’t filter yet. Include former colleagues, past clients, people you’ve mentored, professional acquaintances from conferences, friends who work in your industry, LinkedIn connections you’ve had real conversations with, anyone who’s ever asked you a question about your expertise.

Aim for 30–50 names. You won’t reach out to all of them, but a bigger list gives you better options and helps you see patterns in who your audience actually is.

For each name, note your connection and whether you know they struggle with the problem your course would solve. Mark it “unknown” if you’re not sure. Unknowns are worth reaching out to. Certainty is overrated.

Where to Look When Your Network Runs Dry

Your personal network is the fastest path, but it’s not the only one. If you come up short, go where your target students gather.

Facebook Groups. Search for groups related to your topic. Look for active communities where people ask questions, share struggles, and seek advice. The best groups have regular posts from people describing problems you could solve. Don’t join to promote. Join to understand the language people use when they describe their pain.

LinkedIn. Search by job title, industry, or skills related to your course topic. Look for people posting about challenges you could address. Comment on their posts. Start conversations. Build familiarity before you reach out.

Reddit. Find subreddits where your target students hang out. Read what they ask. Pay close attention to the specific words they use to describe their problems. Those words become your marketing copy later.

Industry forums and Slack communities. Niche communities often have the most engaged prospects. The more specific the community, the more likely people are to respond to a genuine conversation.

Local meetups and events. If your topic has a local angle, in-person conversations build trust faster than cold messages.

The Outreach Message

Keep it short and genuinely curious. No pitch. No agenda beyond understanding their situation.

“Hey [Name], I’m exploring something in [topic area] and trying to understand the challenges people face. Would you be open to a 15-minute call where I just ask you some questions? No sales pitch. Pure research.”

If they say yes, here’s the conversation structure:

1. “Tell me about your experience with [topic].”
2. “What’s the biggest frustration you deal with around [specific problem]?”
3. “What have you already tried to solve it?”
4. “If you could wave a magic wand, what would the solution look like?”
5. “What changes for you if this problem gets solved?”

Listen more than you talk. Take notes on their exact words. You’ll use those words later in your sales copy, your landing page, and your course description. The language your audience uses to describe their pain is more persuasive than any copywriter could invent.

The Soft Close

At the end of a good conversation, transition naturally:

“Based on what you’ve told me, I think I can help with this. I’m putting together a small group to work through [topic] together. Would you want to hear more when I have details?”

If they say yes, you have a warm lead. Not a commitment, but genuine interest from a real person who told you their actual problem in their own words.

Add them to your list. Move on to the next conversation.

How Many Conversations Is Enough

Ten conversations is the floor. You’ll start seeing patterns around conversation five or six: the same frustrations come up, the same failed solutions get mentioned, the same desired outcomes surface.

Those patterns are your market research. They tell you what to include in your course, what to leave out, and how to describe what you’re selling.

Some people you talk to will fit your ideal student perfectly. Some won’t. That’s fine. The ones who light up when you describe the outcome you have in mind are your real market. The others are useful for understanding the boundaries of your topic.

What to Do Before Moving On

Complete these steps:

1. Build your list of 30–50 names
2. Send outreach messages to at least 15 people
3. Complete 10 conversations using the question framework
4. Write down the three most common frustrations you heard
5. Write down the specific words people used to describe them

Take what you learned and build your minimum viable course — the simplest possible version that still delivers a result. That’s the next lesson.