I can completely understand how it feels like fooling people, and I felt that too when I thought to use this approach for Buffer.

I think a "ask for forgiveness rather than permission" mindset can be the most beneficial here.

In my mind, there's no doubt that there is much more value in terms of validation that you can obtain through using this method rather than telling people up front that the product isn't ready yet (some people just love to try new things, and that's much worse validation for whether the product will work).

The key I found is communication. If you are very open and ask for feedback, and if you have a two way conversation with the person after they give you their email, then you can actually get them on your side even more since you've had personal contact.

The "ask for forgiveness rather than permission" is what is needed in all aspects of life as far as I'm concerned. It's generally what I live by.

Hi Anovikov. This is something that I have wrestled with and another commenter has made a similar comment. If you have any suggestions on how to make it less deceitful please let me know and I'll see if it's anything I can implement.