You have been thinking about this for months. Maybe years. You are ready to hand in your notice and build something. Not yet. There is a set of research you should do first — not to talk yourself out of it, but to make sure you do not quit into a 6-month mistake.
Most founders overestimate their market by 10x. "The market for AI writing tools is $50B by 2027." That is not your market. Your market is the specific slice you can actually reach and serve in year 1. Calculate your Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM): Who specifically is this for? How many of those people exist? How much do they currently pay for solutions in this space? What is a realistic share you could get in 12 months? A market is real if you can name 1,000 potential customers by name. If you cannot name 100, the market might not exist yet.
This is the step most founders skip because it is uncomfortable. You need 10 conversations with people who match your target customer. Not friends. Not advisors. Real potential customers. Questions: What problem are you solving? (Use their words, not yours.) What do you do today to solve it? What do you pay for it? (Money and time.) What is broken about what you use now? If I could solve this perfectly, would you pay $X? You need at least 3 of 10 people to say yes, I would pay that unprompted before you quit your job.
If you cannot name 5 competitors, you are either first to market (rare — usually means the market does not exist yet) or you have not done enough research. For each competitor: What do they do well? Who do they serve best? What is their price point? What do their customers complain about?
What will you charge? Calculate: how many customers do you need to cover your current salary + benefits + business costs? If you need $10k/month and your product is $99/month, you need 101+ paying customers just to break even. Know this math before you quit.
How long can you survive with no income? The standard advice: 12 months of runway before you need revenue. Most first-time founders take 18-24 months to product-market fit. If you have 6 months of runway, either raise money, get revenue fast, or do not quit yet.
This sounds backwards, but it is not: Who would acquire this business, and at what stage? Companies get acquired when they have: proprietary data, strategic distribution, or strong brand in a defined niche. If none of those apply, you might be building a lifestyle business — which is fine, but you should know that going in.
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