Founder Interview: Daniela Navaes on validating ideas, user research, and building what people will actually pay for

Most founders don’t struggle because they lack ideas. They struggle because they build the idea… before they prove anyone wants it.

In this episode of Wise Words TV, I’m joined by Daniela, a strategic innovation consultant who helps founders and business owners de-risk and validate ideas through experimentation—so you don’t waste time and money building something nobody wants.

Q: If someone asked “what does a strategic innovation consultant do?” what would you say?

Daniela: What I do is I help businesses create new business with startups and founders. I help them de-risk and validate their ideas before they waste time and money building something nobody wants.

With startups that are already post MVP I help them create experiments to figure out how they can progress to product market fit, and with business owners and entrepreneurs… if they already have an idea of something that they want to do… something new that is kind of out of their comfort zone… I can help them get there in a safe way without having to spend loads of time and money in it.

And if business owners… just think “I just want to create something new, but I don’t know what,” I can help them figure out opportunities within what they already do… untapped opportunities within untapped customer needs.

Q: What’s the first step when a business comes with a new idea?

Elle: If a business comes to you with a new idea… what would your first step be? How would you go about validating it?

Daniela: When we think of innovation, we think “oh, I have a great idea”… and we get really excited… and we just put everything into making it happen.

But… innovation… it’s not just a great idea. If it doesn’t bring tangible, proven value to someone specific and they’re willing to pay for it, then it’s not an innovation. The internet is a graveyard of great, innovative ideas that never took off.

So the first thing I would do is… every business, every new product, every new service is based on a lot of assumptions… about the value… about someone’s problem… about the customer themselves… who are those people… why do they need this?

The first thing would be to check those assumptions, to bring them to surface… be honest and say, what is it that I’m assuming… that needs to be true for this new business to be successful.

Q: Do ideas always need to solve a problem to work?

Elle: Do you find that new ideas need to always solve a problem?

Daniela: No.

People will put more effort into getting rid of pain than into chasing happiness… so as a general rule… more likely… if it’s solving a painful problem.

However, this is not always true. Some innovations… they always solve a problem, but the biggest value proposition is a delight… the novelty of the value trumps the problem… to the point where the problem becomes an afterthought.

But those are the exception, not the rule.

Q: Can you give an example of “delight trumps problem”?

Elle: I’d love an example if you have one.

Daniela: A very classic example is the iPhone. Before the iPhone… the Blackberry… mini keyboard… it was working. The iPhone… “this is so much easier to use.”

Another one was Tinder. The swiping feature… a massive value add… not solving any problem… just a new, delightful feature that happened to take off because it was so easy to use.

Q: Why do founders avoid customer interviews?

Elle: I saw a post you did about the surprises you get when you actually speak to people… I couldn’t agree more… What do you recommend people do to understand their audience rather than guessing?

Daniela: Founders are resistant to doing user research because they’re afraid of finding out that their assumptions are wrong.

If you can overcome that and adopt a mentality of “I am here to learn about something so that I can make something better”… instead of “this product… is my self-esteem”… that needs to go.

What I recommend always is to ask questions in a way that get people to tell a story… founders… write biased questions… leading questions… because of that fear… “what if I’m wrong?”

Q: What’s the biggest mistake people make in interviews?

Elle: What’s the biggest thing to avoid?

Daniela: Instead of asking people if they would pay for your solution… “would you use it?”… the problem with that is…

People cannot predict the future. You can’t ask that.

People don’t know what they want.

And… because of social conditioning, they’re going to say what they think you want to hear.

So… the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Instead of “would you use this,” you talk about the problem… “tell me about a time when you needed to go about solving this problem”… listen… note the friction points, the feelings… use that to probe deeper.

Never ask future hypotheticals… no, not data.

Q: How do you find people to interview?

Elle: How do you go about finding people to interview?

Daniela: That is the million dollar question… it depends how much money you have.

With big clients… hire a recruiter… paid participants… but you have to screen out bad participants.

If you don’t have money… social media… Reddit post… communities…

But your sample will be biased… for people who are very active and likely to be your early adopters… and early adopters are a very different type of people than the mass market.

You need to be aware… if you are early stage, you should probably be talking to your early adopters…

But… the early adopter product might not be the same product for the mass market… the mass market… they just want things to work.

And that gap… early adopter product to mass market product… this is the most difficult gap to bridge.

Q: What was your wisest “yes” in 2025?

Elle: As 2025 comes to an end… has there been anything this year that you’ve said yes to that was a really wise decision?

Daniela: My wisest yes this year was to pursue this business while I was still in a full-time job… I was built for entrepreneurship… my vision evolved so quickly that a job cannot fulfill… I was able to fully channel my creativity into it. And now I’m only doing it. So it was definitely worth it.

Q: What was your full-time role?

Elle: What were you doing in your full-time role?

Daniela: I was doing innovation leadership… I came in as a user researcher and then I turned into a broader innovation lead… connecting systems in a more broad way than simply doing user research.

Q: Does UX and research tend to lead into innovation roles?

Elle: Do you feel like design tends to be the lead-in to this kind of role?

Daniela: I think so… if you want to go a step above… perfect segue… especially if you’re well-versed in user research… because user research is really the key… it’s when you learn whether something can deliver value to someone.

Q: Any “wise words” you live by as you go all-in?

Elle: Any motivational quote… guiding you as you go for this?

Daniela: I don’t have one specific quote, but… I’ve been a yogi for 20 years… the philosophy of yoga… is to be objective about things… be present with things for what they are and to not attribute false meaning to things.

In the work I do… this is very important… looking at reality with objectivity… unanswered questions… get evidence… validate where I am and where I need to be.

If I could summarize it… do not attribute false meaning to things. Always look at things with objectivity and clarity.

Q: Where can people find you?

Elle: Where can people find you?

Daniela: My website is Lumni.work… or you can find me on LinkedIn. It’s Daniela Navaes… feel free to connect… say that you found me through the video.

Want your offer to sound as valuable as it actually is?

If you’re validating ideas, refining positioning, or launching something new, your words matter as much as the product.

Because even a brilliant offer will fall flat if it sounds vague, generic, or “like everyone else.”

Book a Wordology call and I’ll help you sharpen your messaging, nail your brand voice, and make your value painfully obvious (without turning your website into a pushy sales pamphlet).