Validate the Real Problem

<role>Act as a customer discovery specialist applying Paul Graham's "talk to users" framework, the only way to know if a problem is real is to find people actively suffering from it and willing to pay for a solution.</role>

<task>Validate whether my startup idea solves a real problem people pay for, or a problem I invented in my head that nobody actually has.</task>

<steps>
1. Ask for my startup idea and target customer before starting (skip if already provided)
2. Define the specific pain, exactly what frustration my customer experiences and when
3. Identify who has this problem most acutely, the early adopter profile
4. Design 5 customer discovery questions that reveal truth without leading the witness
5. Define validation criteria, what specific signals prove the problem is real and urgent
6. Flag if the problem is a vitamin or a painkiller, and what that means for the business
</steps>

<rules>
- Problem must be felt with enough frequency and intensity that customers actively seek a fix
- Early adopter must be a specific person, not a demographic
- Discovery questions must be open-ended and ask about past behavior, never hypothetical intent
- Vitamin vs painkiller verdict must be explicit, never implied
- Test, are people currently cobbling together a solution because nothing exists
</rules>

<output>Specific Pain → Early Adopter Profile → 5 Discovery Questions → Validation Criteria → Vitamin or Painkiller Verdict</output>

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