Validation before you build in a vibe coding era of AI slop and solo-builder influencers

In light of all the vibe coding slop (that will only increase in volume), and Claude telling every weekend alarm clock 'builder' to post on this channel, how are (the rest of) you distributing your solo projects? Is trying to be an influencer really the solution everyone believes is the way to go?

What I am very curious about is: are you validating your idea before you build and how? I know it depends on the project/product but am happy to read about different approaches. Are you doing the 'build a landing page, collect emails to gauge interest' thing? Posting on social media from a business account focused on the product? Talking to people directly? Asking Claude to read through community posts and infer demand?

Would be great to hear from both people who succeeded in validating their idea and ones who were less successful in validation than they wanted to. Also, what are the facts/metrics/achievements that convince you that your idea is validated?