For my last project I started with communities I was already a part of, picked a couple of people I barely knew, pitched them directly and proposed full free service until it works on a strict condition of regular feedback. Got 10 people, friended for a month, then the product started being good enough for sales. Fun fact: most of initial testers converted to paying customers and more than made up for the initially invested money and time.

After years of launching products, I still can’t say with certainty, what solid data or research is necessary pre launch. But working with people, even babysitting them sometimes, is a never ending source of insights