Validating a Product Idea with No Existing Users

Using Syntheo’s Synthetic Personas to Simulate First-User Adoption Scenarios

The Challenge

A European tech startup approached DataDiggers with an ambitious goal: validate the market viability of a new mobile app designed to help gig economy workers manage multiple income streams. The concept was novel, with no direct competitors and no real users yet — making traditional research methods costly, time-consuming, and potentially unreliable.

With no behavioral data, no customer lists, and no app users to survey, the startup faced a critical early-stage dilemma:
“How can we simulate real-world interest and adoption potential — before investing in development?”

The Solution: Simulating Reality with Syntheo

To overcome the absence of real users, DataDiggers deployed Syntheo, our proprietary AI-driven synthetic insights solution. Syntheo creates realistic digital personas built from thousands of behavioral, demographic, and attitudinal data points sourced across industries, geographies, and life stages.

For this case, we developed a custom panel of 180 synthetic personas, segmented by:

• Type of gig work (e.g., rideshare, delivery, freelance, platform-based)
• Geographic region and income level
• Tech affinity and app usage behavior
• Financial management attitudes
• App store adoption patterns

These personas were not just fictional characters — they were statistically representative proxies, modeled using advanced machine learning and enriched by real-world datasets.

Methodology

We designed a simulation-based study to test the startup’s core hypotheses:

1. Value Proposition Fit — Do synthetic users understand and resonate with the app’s core benefits?
2. Feature Prioritization — Which features drive simulated adoption likelihood?
3. Pricing Sensitivity — What freemium models trigger sign-up vs. churn risk?
4. Onboarding UX Expectations — What do first-time users expect from a finance app for gig workers?

The study used a simulated user journey survey, which emulated the experience of encountering the app in an app store, reading its description, watching a product demo, and navigating a mock-up onboarding flow. At each stage, synthetic respondents "reacted" to prompts, screens, and design decisions — mirroring how actual users might behave.

These simulated responses were analyzed using Modeliq, our scenario testing engine, to forecast adoption curves, drop-off points, and willingness-to-pay across user types and regional clusters.

Results

Syntheo enabled the startup to generate first-user insight in under 72 hours, with findings that shaped their go-to-market strategy and product roadmap:

• Adoption Probability: 67% of synthetic gig workers expressed high likelihood of signing up based on current messaging and features.
• Feature Alignment: Income categorization, expense syncing, and invoice generation emerged as the most demanded features — reshaping the MVP build.
• Pricing Insight: A freemium model with capped features and $4.99 monthly upgrade yielded the highest simulated conversion-to-paid rate (28%).
• Regional Preferences: Users in Southern Europe showed stronger adoption potential, but also greater sensitivity to onboarding complexity.

Most importantly, Syntheo allowed for iterative testing without the cost, time, or ethical complications of experimenting with real users at this stage. The simulation also helped validate the emotional tone and clarity of the app’s messaging across different synthetic personas.

The Impact

Using synthetic respondents allowed the startup to move from idea to validated concept without any actual users — avoiding delays, guesswork, and expensive trial-and-error.

Within two weeks of completing the study, the startup secured a first-round seed investment, citing the simulated adoption results as a key confidence booster for investors. The product is now in development with a go-to-market plan backed by credible, data-driven validation.

Why Syntheo Makes the Impossible, Possible

For early-stage founders, product managers, or innovators operating in white space, Syntheo offers a radically faster and more reliable way to test ideas — even before they exist. By combining synthetic personas with scenario simulation and advanced forecasting, you can:

• Validate concepts when real users aren’t available
• Simulate responses from hard-to-reach or low-incidence segments
• Explore reactions to multiple go-to-market scenarios in parallel
• Align product design with data-backed assumptions

Syntheo is part of DataDiggers' expanding suite of technology-driven research solutions — including Modeliq for forecasting and simulation, and Correlix for large-scale bias correction and synthetic data augmentation.