When “For the Children of Veliko Tarnovo” entered the Validation Booster programme, it was already more than an idea. The platform existed, it had started working with advertisers, and its founder believed it was solving a real problem. What she did not yet know was whether the evidence supported that belief, or whether the project could become sustainable in the long term.
Created to help parents in Veliko Tarnovo find child-friendly businesses, services, activities and events in one place, the platform serves two distinct groups: parents looking for useful information and local businesses hoping to reach them.
For its founder, Maria Malcheva, that meant validation could not stop at asking whether people liked the idea.
“One of the biggest questions I wanted to answer was whether the idea could be turned into a sustainable and profitable business, rather than remaining simply a useful local initiative.”, Maria says.
She also needed to know whether there was enough value on both sides and, crucially, whether businesses were willing to pay to reach a targeted audience of parents.
Testing the assumptions behind the idea
The Validation Booster encouraged her to break the project into three separate hypotheses: one about the market and advertising, one about parents and their needs, and one about advertisers who had already used the platform.
She tested them through surveys, one-to-one interviews and feedback from existing advertisers. The distinction was important.
“I wasn’t asking potential customers what they might do. I was asking people who had actually experienced the product.”
Before the programme, she says, she was more likely to ask whether people liked the idea or thought they might use a platform like hers. The problem is that those questions can produce encouraging answers without providing much evidence.
Instead, she started asking about real behaviour: how parents currently find activities for their children, how businesses advertise, what they have already tried and what results they achieved.
“It helped me distinguish between someone saying, ‘Yes, that’s a great idea,’ and someone actually showing that they have a problem that my platform could solve.”
Trust mattered more than expected
One of the most important findings was that trust played a bigger role than she had initially anticipated.
For parents, recommendations and word-of-mouth are extremely important when choosing businesses and activities for their children. That meant a simple directory would not be enough. The platform had to become a trusted source of information.
For advertisers, the challenge was different. Businesses needed to trust that the platform was reaching the right people, and that spending money there produced results.
“I also learned that I had underestimated the importance of measurability. It isn’t enough for an advertiser to say, ‘I like your audience.’ They need to understand what their advertising achieved.”
That changed the way she thought about the product: away from a model built simply around listings and advertising, and towards one centred on trust, targeted reach and measurable value.
The audience stayed the same. The business model did not. Validation did not lead her to abandon the original concept.
On the contrary, the process confirmed a need on both sides: parents wanted an easier and more trusted way to discover services and activities for their children, while businesses saw value in reaching that audience. But it did change how she thought about sustainability.
“I realised that relying only on advertising revenue could limit the project’s potential.”
One result was the decision to register the initiative as an NGO, opening up possibilities to work with institutions, partners and funding programmes and to develop activities with a social and educational impact.
She also began exploring revenue streams beyond digital advertising, including physical products and merchandising.
One idea that emerged was an educational board game for children and families.
From validation to growth
Since completing the programme, “For the Children of Veliko Tarnovo” has grown to around 3,000 unique monthly users and around 150,000 Facebook views, while its number of advertisers has approximately doubled.
The project has also secured two sources of funding for NGO projects, and its work received the Culture Award from the Municipality of Veliko Tarnovo.
In April this year, the educational board game conceived while exploring new sustainability models was launched.
The game was financed through funds generated by the platform’s business activities together with additional support for implementing the validated ideas.
That support came from the Thomson Foundation, and also included a mentorship programme that helped her further develop the ideas identified during validation.
“The idea for the game was born during the process of exploring how the project could become more sustainable and develop products beyond advertising.”
The real before-and-after
For its founder, the clearest result of the programme cannot be reduced to one number.
Before taking part, she primarily saw “For the Children of Veliko Tarnovo” as a platform connecting parents and businesses through information and advertising.
Afterwards, she began to see a wider range of possibilities: partnerships, funding, new revenue streams, an NGO structure and new products.
“The biggest before-and-after is not just one metric. It is the transition from ‘I have a platform and I need to prove that the idea works’ to ‘I have validated the core idea and now I know how to develop it, diversify it and make it sustainable.’”
That shift may also explain why she believes Validation Booster is particularly useful for people who already have an idea or early-stage product but are still relying heavily on their own assumptions.
“If you are emotionally attached to your idea, it can be difficult to see its weaknesses yourself.”
Her advice to future applicants is not to approach validation as a process designed to prove that they are right.
“Don’t be afraid of discovering that one of your assumptions is wrong. That is actually one of the most valuable outcomes of validation. Finding out what doesn’t work early on gives you the opportunity to change it before you invest much more time and money.”
And asked to sum up what the programme gave her, she points to something that enthusiasm alone could not provide:
“Evidence that my idea works, clarity about what needed to change, and the confidence to take it further.”
For those still working out whether an idea solves a real problem, and what needs to change before taking it further, the next Validation Booster offers a chance to test those assumptions in a structured way.
The current call is a part of the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 project and is open until 2 September at 23:59. It is aimed at journalists, creators and media innovators who want to validate an idea, product or early-stage project before investing further in its development. Read more and apply HERE.
