The expensive myth
The most common question I get from new founders is: "How much money do I need to test my idea?" — and the answer they expect is in the tens of thousands. An app. A website. A trademark.
The uncomfortable truth: if you genuinely need 50,000 riyals just to test an idea, you're probably not testing — you're building. And building before testing is the decision that ends 90% of ideas before they begin.
Good testing answers exactly one question: "Are there real people who carry this problem, and are they willing to pay something to solve it?" That question doesn't need a license, doesn't need an app, and doesn't even need a finished product.
The real signals you're looking for
Before we talk about the SAR 100, you need to know what you're buying with it. These signals are ranked from weakest to strongest:
- Verbal compliments — "Your idea is great!" (weakest signal — ignore it).
- Digital engagement — likes, follows, post saves.
- Joining a waitlist — they leave a real email address.
- Telling someone else — they refer you to a friend.
- Paying upfront — they actually take money out of their pocket (strongest signal).
Your goal in two weeks: reach signal 4 at minimum. If you reach signal 5 — even just three people paying upfront — you're looking at something real.
How to spend the SAR 100
- SAR 40 — A targeted ad on Instagram or TikTok, to measure the response of a specific segment.
- SAR 0 — A simple landing page on Carrd.co or Notion (the free tier is enough).
- SAR 0 — A survey on Google Forms or Tally.
- SAR 40 — Coffee or tea with 8 prospective users (5 riyals × 8).
- SAR 20 — A reserve for printing a test flyer or running a mock ad.
Total: 100 riyals — and you've bought yourself a real decision rather than 50,000 riyals' worth of false certainty.
5 experiments that actually work — under SAR 100
1. The fake landing page (smoke test)
Build a landing page describing the product as if it already exists. Add a "Buy now" or "Reserve your spot" button. When a visitor clicks, they see: "We're in development — leave your email and we'll let you know first."
What you measure: the conversion rate of visitors who click "Buy." Above 5% is a strong signal. Below 1% means rethink the message or the audience.
2. The value-proposition survey
One question only: "How much would you pay per month for a solution that solves [the problem] in 5 minutes?" Four options: 0 SAR, 10–30, 30–100, more than 100. If 30%+ choose anything other than "0," there's willingness to pay.
3. The "concierge" MVP
Deliver the service manually for 5 people. If your idea is "an app that helps you plan trips," take 5 people who are planning trips, and hand them a written plan yourself for SAR 30–50. If they accept and pay, you're solving a problem. If they don't pay, you're serving an audience that doesn't pay.
4. The decoy ad
For SAR 40 on Instagram or TikTok, run an ad for a product you haven't built yet. Aim it at a precise audience (city, age range, interest). Watch the click-through rate (CTR). Above 2% means serious interest. Below 0.5% means either the message is weak or the product isn't wanted.
5. Discovery interviews
Eight in-person conversations, 30 minutes each, with someone who has the problem. Don't talk about your product. Ask them about the last time they faced this problem, what they did, what it cost them, and what frustrated them most. Their honest answers will steer your product toward the actual problem.
The stay-or-pivot decision
After two weeks of experiments, sit alone with the numbers. The rule:
- Strong signals (4 and 5): stick with the idea, and start building a small MVP.
- Medium signals (3): there's "something" — but not what you thought. Reformulate the idea based on what you heard.
- Weak signals (1 and 2): the idea, in its current form, doesn't solve a real problem. Don't keep investing — move on to the next hypothesis.
Pivoting is not failure. Failure is staying with an idea that the market is rejecting, just because you fell in love with it.
A real-world case: from SAR 80 to the first 50 customers
A founder I trained — let's call her Noura — was thinking about a "healthy meals for office workers" service. Instead of opening a kitchen, she did this:
- Built a simple landing page (free).
- Spent SAR 50 on an Instagram ad targeted at a specific Riyadh neighborhood (Al-Olaya).
- Added a "Reserve your weekly subscription — SAR 199" button.
- Spent another SAR 30 on coffee with 6 employees who clicked.
The result, after 8 days: 14 people completed the registration and left their email. She called 9 of them; 6 agreed to prepay for the first week. Noura didn't have a kitchen yet.
She redesigned the idea based on those conversations: the real problem wasn't "healthy meals" — it was "lunch I don't have to think about during a workday." She narrowed her focus (lunch only, four daily options), and launched with 6 real customers who paid before she cooked her first meal. Today she has 53 regular subscribers, and didn't spend more than SAR 1,200 total before the revenue began to cover costs.
The SAR 80 of testing saved her at least SAR 50,000 of building an idea that would have failed in its first form.
The bottom line: the most expensive habit a founder can have is jumping from "the idea" straight to "building." The hundred riyals you spend between those two steps is the cheapest investment you'll ever make in your professional life. Spend it before you spend anything else.