Most ideas die not because they're bad, but because they're never tested. The goal of a 7-day validation sprint is simple: find evidence that real people will pay for your solution before you build it.
Day 1–2: Define the riskiest assumption. Write down the single belief that, if false, kills the business. Usually it's 'people will pay for this.'
Day 3–4: Build a smoke test. A one-page site, a Google Form, a DM campaign. Offer the product as if it exists and count interest.
Day 5–6: Run 15 customer interviews. Ask about their past behavior, never their future intent. 'When did you last try to solve this?' beats 'would you buy this?'
Day 7: Decide. If you have signal (pre-orders, waitlist, strong pain in interviews), proceed. If not, pivot or kill. Killing early is a win.