Startup Data: What the 40% of founders who move forward have in common.

Aron Meystedt
January 14, 2026

Hello!
Aron here.
We operate a free Idea Validation Tool and Startup Idea Generator
In case you missed it:
I made you a free startup roadmap, customized for your idea: Take the First Step here!
There are 200,000+ of you here.
👬 Let’s connect on LinkedIn!

Today we’re exploring two signals in our data that predict if someone will move their idea forward.

Before we dive in, if you want to quickly mockup your idea, do it for FREE at Base44. A landing page gives you something tangible for your next step in validation.

👉 Mockup your idea in 2 minutes, for FREE: Base44

Ok, here we go…

What actually makes founders move from idea to action?

We started publishing live execution data on Validator AI this week.
We are tracking what people actually do after validation.

Here are two early signals that already stand out.

One: Better-thought-out ideas are way more likely to get built

We score every idea based on:

Customer clarity
Problem specificity
Founder alignment
Market focus

Then we track who goes on to build something as a next step.

Here’s what we see right now:

Idea Quality Scores and the Percentage of Those Entrepreneurs that Start Building

80–89 score: 41.7% build
70–79 score: 35.3% build
60–69 score: 32.5% build
Below 60: 15.4% build

The data says:

The clearer you are about your customer and problem, the more likely you are to actually start.

What this means for you

If you feel stuck, you need:

A more specific customer
A very precise problem that you understand well
Less “AI for X” and more “people with Y problem”

That’s what moves you into the 40%+ zone. 🙂

Two: Iteration builds confidence and leads to progress

Another huge signal:

People who re-run validation with suggested improvements move forward 41.4% of the time
People who just read the initial advice move forward 25.7%

The builders don’t get it right on the first try.
People that move forward are willing to tweak and iterate until they find that sweet spot.

The takeaway

The ones who keep moving:

Get more specific
Polish their idea
Run it again
Then take one small next step

What we are working on:

We’re creating a pre-company execution dataset that shows which founders and ideas will move before anyone else sees it.

We’ll show you all of the live data feeds shortly.

(much more to come soon)

🤖 Drop this prompt into Base44 and grab your landing page so you can start the conversation. Replace the info in brackets with your own idea. 👇

I am proving demand for a new startup. My startup idea is [in 2 sentences, write your startup idea here] and the target audience is [in 1 sentence, describe the audience]. This helps solve the problem of [in 1 sentence, write the problem you are solving here].
Please create a landing page with visual appeal and images that match this market we are entering. My goal is to collect emails of interested customers, so I can further validate demand. Prominently place an email capture form on the site, so we can reach out to interested people and continue the conversation.

👉 Drop the prompt here: Base44

Next time, I’ll show you a stat about AI generated ideas vs. user generated ideas that will shock you!

💡 Reach out if you’re working on an idea and you’re stuck. Happy to discuss (for free). Everything is free around here.

Talk to you soon,

Aron Meystedt

Chief Data Nerd at ValidatorAI.com

👬 Let’s connect on LinkedIn!

This newsletter may contain paid promotions. I never recommend a company or service that I wouldn’t use myself. In fact, I decline 9 out of 10 ads that come my way.

Follow along on social media below 👇👇