(The Weekend Insight) - The Rise of Pre-PMF Agencies: How Startups Now Validate Before They Build

In today’s deep-dive, we will explore one of the quietest yet fastest-growing segments of India’s startup ecosystem - a new generation of agencies that help founders validate ideas before they even raise seed funding. These are the “Pre-PMF agencies”: small, agile outfits that run early experiments, test user responses, design MVPs, manage ad funnels, and tell you whether your startup idea has a pulse or not.

Until recently, building a startup followed a predictable sequence: identify a problem, build a product, and chase users. PMF (Product Market Fit) was supposed to emerge organically through iteration and hustle. But in the post-2022 funding slowdown, that romantic view no longer works. Today, capital demands proof, not potential. Angel investors, accelerators, and even friends-and-family rounds increasingly expect early traction - signups, retention, repeat usage, or revenue. In that world, validating an idea before spending 12 months and ₹30 lakh building it is not optional - it’s survival. And that has created a new market: Pre-PMF agencies.

What exactly do these agencies do? In essence, they simulate the early journey of a startup without the founder needing to hire a full team. A founder with an idea - say, a wellness app for working mothers - can now hire an agency that runs quick validation loops: market surveys, landing pages, WhatsApp funnels, ad creatives, and prototype tests. Within weeks, they’ll know whether users will click, sign up, or pay. The deliverable isn’t code; it’s confidence. That clarity - even negative clarity - saves time, money, and morale.

We think the emergence of these agencies is a natural consequence of India’s maturing startup ecosystem. Ten years ago, founders copied Silicon Valley’s playbook: raise fast, hire fast, scale fast. But that was during the capital abundance era, when even half-baked ideas could raise seed funding. Between 2021 and 2023, however, India saw a 70% drop in early-stage funding rounds. Deal sizes shrank, and investor due diligence got tougher. At the same time, the cost of digital experimentation fell sharply: no-code tools, AI copywriters, and low-cost ad platforms made it possible to run tests at ₹10,000 that earlier cost ₹1 lakh. The combination of tighter capital and cheaper experimentation created fertile ground for validation agencies.

This market didn’t emerge out of nowhere. It evolved from adjacent ecosystems - digital marketing agencies, D2C growth consultants, and indie product studios - who realised that founders were now willing to pay for validation itself. Many of these teams rebranded from “marketing” or “growth” to “validation” or “MVP” services.

The underlying trend is clear: validation has become the new due diligence. In 2024, more than 180 such Pre-PMF outfits were active across India, according to industry listings, and the number has doubled since 2022. Their clients are not just startups but also solo founders, corporate innovation teams, and even VCs running idea labs. The agencies operate across models - from fixed-fee validation packages to success-based commissions, and in some cases, equity partnerships if they like the idea. The result is a growing service layer around India’s early-stage ecosystem - one that may soon rival accelerators in influence.

We think it’s useful to map out what this new service layer actually looks like on the ground. The “Pre-PMF validation economy” is not a theoretical construct anymore - it’s a growing web of agencies, studios, and automation-driven partners spread across India. Their offerings now range from pure validation consulting to full-stack MVP builds and conversational GTM funnels. What follows is a representative snapshot of these outfits active through 2024 - the players building infrastructure for India’s new validation-first era.

Across categories, a few archetypes stand out.

The idea validation firms focus purely on research and hypothesis testing. Agencies such as Koot.Business, Venture Care, SocialChamps, Expertbells, and Validate India specialize in product-market-fit analysis, founder-hypothesis testing, and data-driven decision frameworks. They offer founders a research-heavy starting point: understanding audiences, gauging willingness to pay, and preparing investor-ready validation decks.

Then there are the MVP and no-code studios - the execution arm of this new economy. Players like MVP Studio, F22 Labs, Creole Studios, FX31 Labs, IndianAppDevelopers, RipenApps, Iroid Solutions, SunTec India, and MVP Now Studio have turned fast iteration into a service. For fees between ₹75,000 and ₹3 lakh, they help founders ship prototypes in weeks instead of months, often embedding analytics dashboards to measure engagement in real time. These studios blend no-code tools and AI workflows so that non-technical founders can validate without building permanent teams.

A third archetype - conversational GTM and WhatsApp-based funnels - speaks directly to India’s consumer behavior. Agencies like ROI Hunt, Gallabox ecosystem, ChatOnDesk, Troika Tech, WappBiz, Spaceedge Technology, and platform partner WATI are helping founders build lightweight demand pipelines through WhatsApp APIs and Zapier integrations. In markets where 70% of customer interactions still happen via chat, these conversational funnels are proving to be the most cost-effective validation tools in the country.

The fourth group consists of venture studios and Startup-as-a-Service models, where validation is built into the company-creation process itself. T9L QUBE, Antler India Residency, Ellenox, Appriffy Labs, and The Startup Studio co-build ventures with founders, de-risking the early journey through shared validation infrastructure and capital. These entities blur the line between investor, agency, and co-founder - and we think they represent where the Pre-PMF model is headed next.

Underpinning all of these layers is a common toolkit. Most of these agencies use Unbounce, Instapage, Leadpages, Zoho LandingPage, Prefinery, and LaunchList to build landing pages, waitlists, and viral referral loops. Some have also begun integrating global AI validation tools like ValidatorAI, Hypotest, and DimeADozen into their workflows to generate insights in hours instead of days.

To understand the rise of Pre-PMF agencies, we need to understand what changed in the psychology of founders. Founders today are less romantic and more data-driven. The pandemic era glorified resilience and risk-taking, but the funding freeze of 2023 taught a harsher lesson: failure isn’t noble if it’s predictable. Pre-PMF agencies offer a new kind of insurance - for a small upfront cost, they tell you if your startup should even exist. In conversations with founders, a recurring phrase comes up: “We didn’t want to waste a year building something nobody wanted.” That sentiment is now mainstream.

At a tactical level, these agencies operate like temporary co-founders. A typical validation sprint might include:

• Conducting 30-50 user interviews and market surveys.

• Building a no-code landing page and running ₹10,000-₹25,000 worth of performance ads.

• Designing clickable prototypes using tools like Figma or Glide.

• Setting up WhatsApp or Telegram groups to test engagement.

• Creating mock social media campaigns to measure interest.

Within two weeks, the founder knows how many users clicked, signed up, or dropped off. That’s often enough to decide if the idea deserves a pilot or needs a pivot. We think this rapid feedback cycle is democratizing entrepreneurship: founders without technical backgrounds or large budgets can now test ideas at startup speed.

Beyond saving time, the rise of Pre-PMF agencies is also changing investor behaviour. Angels and micro-VCs now routinely ask founders, “Have you validated this?” Founders who show validation data - even small cohorts of paying users - command better terms. Antler India Residency ties structured validation during its program to pre‑seed cheques of up to ₹4 crore, making evidence of early demand and problem - solution fit a prerequisite for capital rather than a post‑funding activity.

We think what’s happening here is not just a new service model - it’s a cultural shift. Startups in India are growing up. The old mantra of “move fast and break things” is being replaced with “test fast and learn things.” For every dreamer, there’s now a data dashboard. The romantic notion of intuition-led founders is giving way to experiment-led ones. And while some may argue this kills spontaneity, we think it’s making Indian startups more efficient and outcome-focused.

The most striking feature of this new category is its pricing innovation. Most Pre-PMF agencies operate in the ₹50,000 to ₹3 lakh bracket per project. Some offer tiered validation packs: basic idea validation for ₹49,999 (including surveys and landing pages), MVP simulation for ₹99,999, and full-stack validation (ads, prototypes, and feedback reports) for ₹1.5-2 lakh. Others are outcome-linked: if a founder hits target signups or conversions, the agency earns a 10–15% success bonus. A few even take small equity stakes: typically 1-3%, if they believe in the startup’s potential. This hybrid pricing model reflects a broader shift in India’s service economy from billing hours to sharing upside.

We think this is healthy for the ecosystem. It ensures that agencies have skin in the game and founders stay disciplined. In a funding-scarce environment, validation-first services are becoming the new pre-seed investors - offering intellectual capital before financial capital. The best agencies are now building strong brand equity, with repeat clients and referrals. For instance, T9L QUBE is frequently cited by founders as a co‑builder through the pre‑PMF phase.

This has led to another phenomenon: founders renting PMF expertise instead of hiring in-house growth teams. Early-stage startups rarely have product managers, data analysts, or performance marketers. Pre-PMF agencies fill that gap on demand, offering the equivalent of a lean growth team for a fraction of the cost. This model is particularly attractive to solo founders or teams without technical backgrounds. For a few lakhs, they get an end-to-end PMF sprint that would otherwise take six months and multiple hires.

The boundaries between agencies and co-founders are also blurring. Many Pre-PMF shops now position themselves as “co-creation partners,” participating in ideation, naming, and GTM strategy. A few even co-own IP with founders. We think this signals a new class of hybrid players - half agency, half venture studio. For example, a Delhi-based firm recently co-created a health-tech app with its client, running all design and user testing in exchange for 5% equity. It’s an evolution from vendor relationships to shared ownership models, and it mirrors trends in global ecosystems like Y Combinator’s early sprint programs or Tiny Studio’s venture partnerships.

However, the model isn’t risk-free. Validation can create a false sense of certainty. Founders may overfit to early data from small cohorts or ad tests that don’t represent real market dynamics. Agencies, in turn, may optimise for vanity metrics - click-through rates, signups - rather than sustained engagement or retention. We think this over-validation risk could become the industry’s biggest blind spot if not addressed. True product-market fit is emotional as much as statistical; no spreadsheet can capture customer delight or founder conviction.

Another concern is loss of founder intuition. Startup building has always been a balance between art and science. As validation becomes productized, there’s a danger that founders outsource their conviction. The best Pre-PMF partners are careful to avoid this - they frame validation as decision support, not decision making. One Mumbai agency we spoke to calls its approach “gut with guardrails.” That balance, trusting data without becoming enslaved to it, will define which founders succeed in this new environment.

From an investor’s perspective, the impact is profound. We think Pre-PMF validation will become part of due diligence itself. Already, several micro-VCs and angel networks have started funding validation sprints for shortlisted startups before writing a full cheque. Instead of investing blindly, they spend ₹1 lakh on testing the idea first. If it works, they invest; if it doesn’t, they pass - and both sides save time. This “validation-as-a-service” model could soon become a standard pre-seed ritual in India’s funding pipeline.

Technology is amplifying the trend. The arrival of AI in marketing, analytics, and no-code development has made validation faster and cheaper. Tools like ChatGPT, Glide, Softr, and Typedream let agencies design landing pages and prototypes in hours. AI-generated ad copy can test ten GTMs simultaneously. A single agency analyst with these tools can now do the work of an entire early-stage growth team. We think this is why the number of Pre-PMF service providers could cross 500 by 2026, many operating as one- or two-person studios leveraging AI workflows.

Looking ahead, Pre-PMF agencies may evolve into something bigger: “Startup-as-a-Service” platforms. Imagine founders logging into a portal, selecting their startup category, entering their hypothesis, and getting a customized validation sprint automated via AI - from surveys to ads to reports. Some Indian teams are already building this. The vision is to make idea validation as frictionless as buying a domain name. For India, with its vast pool of aspiring entrepreneurs, that could be transformative.

We also think this trend has export potential. Indian Pre-PMF agencies are already picking up global clients: early-stage founders in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa looking for low-cost validation. India’s cost advantage and digital marketing talent give it a head start. Just as India became the back office of global IT in the 2000s, it could become the “validation lab” for global startups in the 2020s.

At a macro level, this movement represents the professionalization of early-stage chaos. It brings structure to what was once improvisation. Founders are no longer flying blind; they are flying with dashboards. We think this will make the Indian ecosystem more capital-efficient and globally competitive. But it also raises philosophical questions: Will too much data stifle creativity? Will the next visionary idea die in a spreadsheet because it didn’t hit 2% CTR?

Our take is optimistic. Validation doesn’t kill ambition; it sharpens it. India’s Pre-PMF agencies are not replacing founder conviction - they’re upgrading it. They make sure that conviction is backed by signals, not noise. In a funding winter, they’re helping founders conserve resources, investors allocate smarter, and the ecosystem evolve faster. By 2030, we expect validation to become an integral part of India’s startup operating system - a step as standard as incorporation or pitching. The “pre-PMF” era is here, and it’s building the muscle memory of a more disciplined, data-aware generation of founders.

We think this is one of the most underappreciated revolutions in Indian entrepreneurship. The rise of Pre-PMF agencies marks the shift from startups as experiments of hope to experiments of evidence. For a country that produces over 80,000 new founders every year, that’s not just a service - it’s infrastructure for innovation itself.