ShipFit
- Forced 9-stage sequential decision sequence with Ship / Pivot / Kill verdicts. No skipping. Each stage builds on the last
- Live competitor data from search APIs at run time. Every competitor has a real URL, every price has a source link
- Real customer complaints sourced from G2 / Trustpilot / Reddit / App Store reviews, not generated text
- MVP scope with Lean / Balanced / Full packages, feature prioritisation and a build timeline
- Van Westendorp pricing methodology applied by name, with competitive positioning map and tier recommendations
- Behavioural validation with landing page copy, traffic templates and conversion tracking checklist
- Channel-specific launch playbook matched to your buyer, with copy templates and success metrics
- Exports to Cursor, Claude Code, Lovable, Replit, Windsurf, v0 and Gemini with tool-optimised prompts
- 55 named frameworks attributed (Christensen, Fitzpatrick, Vohra, Helmer, Van Westendorp, JTBD) applied at the right stage
- 20 minutes for the full sequence, not 120 seconds. If you only want a fast confidence number, this isn't it
- No brand-asset or AI ad generation. Logos, colour palettes and ad creative aren't part of the playbook
IdeaProof
- Fast. 120 seconds from idea to a 0-100 viability score
- Broad output bundle. Score, SWOT, brand archetype, logo, AI ads, landing pages and email sequences in one place
- One-shot report, not a forced sequential decision process. No Ship / Pivot / Kill verdict on individual stages
- Frameworks not attributed. No Christensen, Fitzpatrick, Vohra, Helmer or Van Westendorp by name
- 89% accuracy claimed against 10,000+ user follow-ups, but no published methodology document
- No exports to AI coding tools. PDF and brand-asset output only, no Cursor / Claude Code / Lovable handoff
- No live G2 / Trustpilot / Reddit complaint mining. Customer signal is generated from inputs, not pulled from real reviews
- No Lean / Balanced / Full MVP packaging. MVP roadmap is generic, not scope-tiered
- Pricing strategy generated, but Van Westendorp methodology and competitive pricing positioning not named
A score is a number. A playbook is a plan.
IdeaProof’s pitch is fast. A 120-second viability score, a SWOT, target audience and a marketing bundle: brand archetype, logo, colour palette, AI-generated ads, landing pages and email sequences. The output is broad. It is also a one-shot. You type, you wait, the system produces the whole bundle.
ShipFit is shaped the other way. 9 forced decisions, in order. Each one builds on the last. You can’t skip ahead. You walk out with a named buyer, real competitor URLs, a Van Westendorp pricing tier, a Lean / Balanced / Full MVP scope, a channel-specific launch playbook and exports for seven AI coding tools.
The IdeaProof score and the ShipFit playbook are different end states. The score answers “should I think about this for longer?” The playbook answers “what should I build, for whom, at what price, and how?“
9 decisions IdeaProof doesn’t force
IdeaProof produces its outputs in parallel from one prompt. ShipFit’s 9 stages run sequentially because each one depends on the last.
| Stage | What ShipFit produces |
|---|---|
| 1. Worth Building? | Market verdict with real competitor URLs, real prices, real complaints. Ship / Pivot / Kill |
| 2. Who Pays? | Named buyer personas with willingness-to-pay, CAC and decision timeline |
| 3. What Hurts? | Pain points ranked by severity and frequency from real review data |
| 4. How to Win? | Side-by-side competitive positioning with real pricing and feature gaps |
| 5. What’s V1? | Lean / Balanced / Full MVP packages with prioritisation and build timeline |
| 6. How to Charge? | Pricing architecture with Van Westendorp methodology and tier recommendations |
| 7. Will They Pay? | Landing page copy, traffic templates, conversion tracking checklist |
| 8. How to Launch? | Channel playbook with copy templates and success metrics |
| 9. What to Export? | Cursor, Claude Code, Lovable, Replit, Windsurf, v0 and Gemini configs |
You can’t price before you’ve defined the buyer. You can’t scope the MVP before you’ve ranked the pain. That ordering is the product.
What you get. ShipFit vs IdeaProof
| Capability | ShipFit | IdeaProof |
|---|---|---|
| Forced 9-stage sequential decision process | ✅ | ❌ |
| Ship / Pivot / Kill verdict on every stage | ✅ | ❌ |
| Live competitor URLs from search APIs at run time | ✅ | ❌ |
| Customer signal mined from G2 / Trustpilot / Reddit / App Store | ✅ | ❌ |
| Lean / Balanced / Full MVP packages with prioritisation | ✅ | ❌ |
| Van Westendorp pricing methodology named | ✅ | ❌ |
| Behavioural validation with traffic templates + tracking checklist | ✅ | ❌ |
| Channel-specific launch playbook with success metrics | ✅ | ❌ |
| Exports to Cursor, Claude Code, Lovable, Replit, Windsurf, v0, Gemini | ✅ | ❌ |
| 55 frameworks attributed by author (Christensen, Fitzpatrick, Vohra, Helmer) | ✅ | ❌ |
| 24% Kill rate against live data thresholds | ✅ | ❌ |
| Source link on every claim | ✅ | ❌ |
| Reproducible: same idea, same data, same verdict | ✅ | ❌ |
The bottom line
IdeaProof gives you a score in 120 seconds plus a marketing kit. ShipFit gives you the nine decisions and the coding-tool handoff that come between “this might work” and “this is shipping next week”.
Both have free entry. Both cost about the same to go deeper. Only ShipFit replaces the “what do I actually build, for whom, at what price” gap with a forced sequence and an export prompt.
If you’re past the score-curiosity stage and want a build plan, start with ShipFit.
Frequently asked questions
Is ShipFit better than IdeaProof?
What does ShipFit do that IdeaProof doesn't?
Is IdeaProof's 89% accuracy claim real?
Can I use ShipFit instead of IdeaProof?
Keep exploring
The 9-step playbook from market verdict to ship-ready spec.
The Mom Test is Rob Fitzpatrick's framework for customer interviews that generate real signal. Not praise. Three rules, applied step-by-step, with examples.
The Van Westendorp framework uses 4 questions to surface a defensible price range. Here's how to run it, interpret the results, and avoid the usual mistakes.
Most founder market research is a TAM slide that nobody believes. The numbers that actually matter are smaller, harder to defend, and tell you whether the market exists for the ten-customer version of your business.
Most founders confuse idea validation with idea-receiving-encouragement. The two have nothing in common. Here's what real validation looks like, and the four methods that actually produce it.
Does each customer make you money? Or cost you money?
Run nine framework-backed decisions in order before writing code: define the buyer, prove the pain is painful, name the winning angle, scope V1 to the smallest test of the hypothesis, get behavioral evidence (paid pre-orders, signed letters of intent, or credit cards on file from a Fake Door Test), then ship. Most failed startups skipped at least three of those nine. Plan to spend two to four weeks on this. It saves six to nine months of building the wrong thing.
For indie hackers who've wasted months on dead ideas. ShipFit forces 9 decisions before you write a line of code. Proven frameworks, exports to Cursor.
If you want a conversation partner, Buildpad. If you want to stop researching and ship, ShipFit. Both solve different problems for different founders. Don't pick on hype.
Ready to make your next product a success?
9 decisions between your idea and a product worth building.