Apparently, most people fail on this very basic first step. I've done it countless times. However, this time I want to reach out.
Is there a specific platform where you can post your idea and see if people are keen to signup and help you develop your idea?
I was thinking that each person that submits their idea can specify the conditions and the offering and how many early birds they seek.
For example: Mike seeks 20 early adopters that will get a free lifetime deal of the service given that they help out in Zoom call 1 hour a week until MVP is ready.
Reality is that you have to find early adopters where they already are. You have to go to them, not vice versa. Talk to them and solve their problems, rinse and repeat. Many of them will not even realize that they have a problem or that it is solvable, so no chance they would have signed up for this hypothetical platform in the first place.
People today are fatigued by the bombardment of so many shiny new things and the starry-eyed fools peddling these things. It's not just consumers who are feeling it, but businessmen too.
I feel the best way to get opportunities is to already have good relationships with people who would be your "in", where they might server as a direct customer or as a connection to a customer. Opportunities are more likely to present themselves over lunch or golf rather than a cold sale attempt, whether it be email or playing the social media game by trying to hook people in some digital "community" by offering them CONTENT!, people see right through that nowadays.
I say just get involved. Get part-time jobs in-industry, make friends serendipitously - don't tryhard, and beware of your intent. Don't go "networking". That's cringe, unauthentic. People see through it. Don't fool yourself either. Don't go out and say, "Ah, I'm going to go to this event not as a salesey networky guy, wink wink, of course not! Just looking to be a fun nice guy and offer value to the community! Wouldn't it be convenient if I made 'friends' with someone who might also be my customer! haha what if that happened! That'd be such a nice coincidence haha!". People like authenticity and you can't really lie about it, not even to yourself, it bleeds through.
Just get out there and do things and opportunities will present themselves. Be patient, be real, and don't force it.
I have been thinking about a platform where people could list their problems. Like an outlet to rant about things. Perhaps combining a ranting platform with access to early solutions to a particular problem could solve the above dilemma.
In a way Producthunt and Indiehacker is this community, but they tend to be very tech orientated. So it is not picking up on the every day problems.
I liked what Earn.com did at some point where you could join a list to partake in paid surveys. Initially they were quite strict about who are approved for a list which obviously made the results more valuable.
Have you tried to test interest for people joining such a platform as beta testers?
Just found what I had in mind.
It gives early adopters a heads up.
My idea however was that you don't even need a landing page and all the site does is containing your add and an email submission form and then you'll take it from there, discord, zoom meetings or whatever works for the people that have signed up.
Betalist criteria is a bit different https://betalist.com/criteria
And it doesn't seem like the early adopters get anything. Just a heads up.