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If you’re a founder or SME in the service or coaching business, you’ve probably already been told that launching a course is a no-brainer for scaling your intellectual property and business.
And look, we get the appeal. Done right, a course isn’t just a digital product. It’s a signal of credibility. A powerful value-add. A potential flywheel for revenue.
But here's what we want to say from the frontlines of learning design:
Great courses aren’t built on what you know. They’re built on what your audience needs and what they’re willing to pay for.
With the online learning market growing rapidly, especially in short, skills-based, outcomes-focused courses, there's a huge opportunity. But there’s also noise, competition, and a sophisticated learner market that expects real value, not generic information.
For reference, this video provides a quick snapshot of the level of competition:
That means we validate first. Before the build. Before the branding. Before you find yourself 6 weeks deep in Canva designing module thumbnails.
This blog is your validation roadmap. The one we wish more founders followed before throwing time, budget, and brainpower at an idea that hasn’t been tested in the wild.
1. Start with the market (not your favourite framework)
You know your craft. But the online learning market? It doesn’t care how much you know. It cares whether you solve a real problem, for a real person, in a way that’s actually usable.
Right now, learners are actively choosing courses that are:
- Short and skills-based
- CPD-aligned or credentialed
- Flexible and mobile-friendly
- Directly tied to career progression or compliance.
So ask yourself: Is your course an answer to a question people are already asking?
Here’s how to find out:
- Talk to 5–10 people who match your ideal learner. Ask about:
- Their biggest headaches
- What they’ve tried
- What hasn’t worked.
- Audit your competition
- What’s already out there?
- What’s outdated?
- Where are the gaps?
- Go keyword-hunting. Use Google or job boards to uncover how people describe their struggles. Their language is your positioning gold.
You’re not going for broad appeal. You’re looking for a niche audience with a clear, costly problem, and a willingness to solve it.
2. Define the transformation (this is what people actually pay for)
The biggest misconception we see among founders is:
“If I pack everything I know into the course, people will see the value.”
This strategy often fails as learners aren’t paying for content. They’re paying for transformation.
So… what will they be able to do after your course?
- Will they be more confident in a skill?
- Will they save time, hit targets, or perform better at work?
- Is this going to help them get promoted, stay compliant, or grow their income?
Paint the “before” and “after” state like it’s a make-over show. Show me the glow-up.
Because if your course doesn’t promise a real-world change, your learners won’t see it as essential.
3. Build the smallest possible version first (MVP isn’t just tech talk)
You don’t need to lock in a six-module course with custom animations just yet.
Here are some founder-tested MVP formats:
- Run a live 90-minute workshop. Do people show up? Do they stay engaged?
- Launch a waitlist or “founder cohort” landing page. How many join?
- Prototype a single lesson or tool. What gets the strongest feedback?
- Offer a deposit-based pre-sale. Nothing says “validation” like upfront cash.
- Test with a diagnostic quiz or checklist. High engagement = high demand.
Validation isn’t a build, but a sprint.
You’re not crafting a masterpiece. You’re collecting clues.
4. Will people pay? (This is the real test)
Let us say this clearly: Interest is not demand.
We’ve seen so many founders get excited because “people said they liked the idea.” But when it came time to purchase? Crickets.
True validation happens when:
- The course solves a time-sensitive, expensive problem
- It improves job performance, supports compliance, or enables a promotion
- The outcomes are easy to understand and apply
- A trusted expert (like you) is delivering it
- There’s a link to something tangible: a badge, certificate, or framework
If no one is ready to pay (even a small deposit), it might be time to refine, not build.
5. Consider format and engagement early (engagement is half the game)
Here’s what we’ve seen again and again at Oppida:
- Cohort-based courses? 70–90% completion.
- Self-paced? 10–15%, unless there’s strong accountability.
Your learners aren’t just buying content. They’re buying support. They’re buying structure. They’re buying access (maybe to you, maybe to each other).
Use your validation phase to test:
- Do they want community or 1:1 time?
- Are they after bite-sized videos or long-form sessions?
- Do they need a deadline to stay motivated?
- What makes them feel seen, supported, and successful?
Format isn’t just delivery. It’s part of your product-market fit.
6. Understand the cost of development (this is why you validate first)
Industry benchmarks confirm what we see in project delivery:
- Even a modest-quality course hour can take dozens to hundreds of hours to produce.
- Multimedia-rich experiences demand specialist roles (instructional designers, SMEs, media producers, QA testers).
- Projects grow fast without a clear, validated scope.
This doesn’t mean you need a huge budget, but you need clarity before you invest.
Validation protects your time, budget, and reputation by ensuring you’re building the right thing, not just building something well.
7. Watch for these common founder traps
Too many founders fall into the same traps. Let's skip that, shall we?
- Overestimating what learners want to consume. Too much content = low completion.
- Underestimating complexity. A “simple online course” still requires structured learning design.
- Choosing the wrong format. Your learners may not want what you prefer to create.
- Thinking a great idea will sell itself. Even excellent ideas need market validation and strong positioning.
- Building too soon. Rework is expensive and often avoidable.
These traps are about assumptions.
Validation replaces assumptions with evidence.
8. What validation looks like when it’s done well
A strong validation process gives you:
- A well-defined learner persona
- A problem worth solving (and paying for)
- A validated outcome learners want to pay for
- Insight into how they want to learn
- The scope for an efficient, investable course build
- And maybe even your first cohort or testimonial
Most importantly:
You gain confidence that your course will deliver value and revenue before you spend a cent on production.
That’s what we call a commercially investable course idea.
And that’s what you want before committing to the full build.
9. How Oppida supports founders through validation
We’re not just about building beautiful courses (though we do love a good aesthetic). We’re about building the right course for the right learner with the right outcomes.
With Oppida, we support you with finding:
- Clarity on what your audience really needs
- A validated, commercially sound course idea
- Confidence in your delivery model
- Strategic scoping that saves you time and budget
- Support to prototype, test, and position your offer
This is what sets our clients up for five-star learner experiences and long-term program viability.
Ready to validate your course idea before you spend a cent?
If you're staring at a course idea and thinking “I know this could work... but how do I test it before investing?”, you’re in the right place.
It’s your roadmap from idea to investable course without wasting a cent on guesswork.
References & further reading
- HolonIQ (2024). Global Education Outlook: Microcredentials & Skills-Based Learning.
A data-rich look at the rising demand for short, outcomes-focused online programs.
https://www.holoniq.com - IBISWorld (2023). Online Education in Australia – Market Research Report.
Provides insights into learner preferences and growth areas in the e-learning sector.
https://www.ibisworld.com - LinkedIn Learning (2023). 2023 Workplace Learning Report.
Highlights what professionals expect from learning programs and the business case for skills development.
https://learning.linkedin.com - OECD (2021). The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030.
Discusses global trends in education, including the shift toward job-relevant learning and lifelong upskilling.
https://www.oecd.org/education/2030 - Deloitte (2022). Learning in the Flow of Work.
Explores how modern professionals engage with learning and why traditional models are falling short.
https://www2.deloitte.com - Thinkific (2023). The State of Online Learning for Entrepreneurs.
Offers platform data on course creation trends, completion rates, and pricing benchmarks.
https://www.thinkific.com - Miller, R. & Hess, T. (2020). Course Design Patterns in Digital Learning: Impact on Completion Rates.
A review of self-paced vs cohort-based delivery outcomes in online learning.
Available via academic databases or institutional access.
