My idea is an app that connects retailers with independent contractors to stock shelves, promote products, mystery shop or check store displays.
I do not have the money to build an app or saas that streamlines the backend and automates everything yet.
What non scalable things can I do to still run the idea to validate demand for it? How do I run it and check on freelancers doing a good job?
One of the best ways to POC the service: I would sign up a few retailers and work through platforms like Upwork or Fiverr to get the job done. It will be time intensive, but the validation will be well worth the effort.
You'll just have to create an Excel Spreadsheet, with the retailers and contractors. Then you'd have to manually match them, and then you'd have to call them to find out how the gig went. Just run it as if YOU ARE THE PLATFORM. So basically, you'd have to do manually what the platform would do if it existed.