Reality Check: Pitch Your Idea to 10 Real People [D2C Edition]

Building a consumer brand? Before you spend more on product, packaging or ads, put it in front of real buyers. This time, Reality Check by AI Garage returns with a special D2C Edition for founders building products people can discover, compare, try and buy. Bring your product, prototype, samples, packaging, landing page or early brand. Sit across from real consumers. Find out: What catches their attention What they think your product is Who they think it is for What they compare it with What feels trustworthy — or doesn't What they think it should cost What would stop them from buying What would make them try it today No investor panel. No startup pitch competition. No polite “looks interesting” feedback. Just founders and potential customers having the conversations that usually happen too late. The first Reality Check happened on 8th August. After 2 months and 4 reschedules, we finally got the first edition into a room. 9 founders showed up with everything from landing pages and prototypes to live MVPs. 20+ Reality Checkers sat across from them for multiple rounds of candid user conversations. And founders walked away with things they didn't have when they entered: Sharper positioning New use cases Feature ideas triggered by user questions Confusion points they hadn't noticed Better ways to explain what they were building More clarity on what to test next One founder changed how he positioned his product after users misunderstood something he thought was obvious. Others discovered new use cases or features directly through conversations. And several founders told us the quality of questions from Reality Checkers surprised them. That is what this room is for. Why Reality Check exists AI has made building faster and cheaper. Landing pages, agents, workflows, prototypes and MVPs that once took weeks can now be built in days. But the hard question has shifted. Earlier: “Can I build this?” Now: “Am I building the right thing?” Most founders know they should talk to users. But doing it consistently is awkward, unstructured and surprisingly difficult to arrange. So Reality Check creates the room for it. You bring what you're building. We bring founders and Reality Checkers together. Then you personally pitch, demo, ask questions and watch what people actually understand. The goal is not applause. The goal is clarity. This is NOT ❌ A demo day❌ A pitch competition❌ A networking event disguised as validation❌ Generic founder-to-founder feedback❌ A room where someone validates your idea for you Reality Check is founder-led. You will personally face real user reactions. That is the point. Who should apply as a Founder / Builder? Reality Check is best suited for early-stage builders working on: Consumer apps AI products and agents Productivity tools Learning and career products Creator tools Community and event products Local commerce B2B / workflow products Student or working-professional products Other early-stage technology products You do not need a finished product. You should have something people can understand or experience: Landing page → Prototype → Figma → WhatsApp demo → Working MVP The stronger your prototype/MVP, the more useful the conversations usually become. What happens during Reality Check? Founders are assigned their own tables. Reality Checkers rotate between founders in small groups. Each interaction is deliberately short so founders hear reactions from multiple people instead of spending the entire event with one user. A typical round looks like: 1 min → Founder context/problem3 mins → Pitch/demo2.5 mins → User reactions + questions1.5 mins → Feedback capture + rotation Then the Reality Checkers move to the next founder. Over multiple rounds, patterns start appearing. What should founders listen for? Not: "Do you like my idea?" Instead: What do people think your product actually does? Who do they think it is for? What did they misunderstand? Where did they get confused? What language did they naturally use? What existing behaviour/product did they compare it to? Would they actually use it? Would they pay, share or recommend it? What questions keep appearing across conversations? One comment may be noise. The same reaction from five different people is a signal. What you'll leave with Depending on attendance and rotation, founders can leave with multiple independent user reactions plus: Clarity on what users understood Repeated confusion points Objections and interest signals Exact language people used to describe the product New use cases or feature ideas A sharper pitch Better questions to investigate Clearer next steps for the product, landing page, positioning or ICP We also capture structured feedback wherever possible so founders can review user responses after the event. Who are Reality Checkers? You don't need to be a founder, product manager, investor or AI expert. You just need to be willing to try early products and tell builders what you actually think. As a Reality Checker, you might be asked: What do you think this product does? Who do you think this is for? What confused you? Would you use it? Why or why not? Would you pay for it, share it or recommend it? What would make it more useful? There is only one rule: Be honest, specific and kind. Your reaction could save a founder weeks of building in the wrong direction. What the first edition taught us Reality Check itself is also an experiment. After the first edition, we're already improving: User ↔ founder matching Feedback capture Rotation mechanics Founder briefing Post-event synthesis Ways to create deeper conversations where useful Each edition should be better than the one before it. Event Format Format: In-personDuration: ~2.5 hoursFounder seats: LimitedReality Checker seats: LimitedFounder / Reality Checker ticket: Free Founder applications are reviewed because the quality of the room depends heavily on having something concrete enough for users to react to. Agenda 0:00–0:15 → Welcome + context0:15–0:30 →