If you sell it, then I’ll build it.
Don’t fall for the “Field of Dreams” Fallacy
I have a policy. I don’t build products for people before they have customers.
I sometimes get approached by a friend with an idea. Since I am a software engineer, they want me to build an app or website for them. They think they need the product before they can start selling. This is false.
I remember two specific examples of friends approaching me to help them build. These examples stick out because both of these friends were experienced sales people. I’m always down to hear a startup pitch and brainstorm about go-to-market strategy, but when they asked if I would build the product for them, my answer: if you sell it, then I’ll build it for you.
This seems counterintuitive to them. “How can I sell a product that hasn’t been built?” In turn, I counter with “why would I invest time on a product without any customers?”
In all sincerity, I ask them how they know what we should build if they don’t have any customers. Have you talked to potential customers? Do they need the solution you are proposing?
In my opinion, any aspiring founder should get as far along as they can before they invest too much in product development.
As a technical founder, I can hack together an MVP (minimum viable product, or prototype) over a long weekend. That is my advantage as a developer. After hacking together the absolute minimum, that is the time to start talking to potential customers.
If you are not technical, then you better be able to sell. And if you can sell, you don’t actually need a product. You only need a pitch deck explaining the problem and the proposed solution. With the deck in hand, you can start talking to prospective customers. A product won’t actually get you in the door. If you can’t or don’t want to get in front of customers with a deck, then I can’t help you.
Once you start talking to prospects, the first goal is to validate the problem. If the problem resonates, then you can start to outline the proposed solution. If they ask to see the product, you can tell them it is in development and will be ready in three to six months. This is where you can gauge how much interest the prospect has to see if you might be on to something.
Before product market fit, you need problem market fit.
Not everyone will be interested in your proposed solution, and some prospects will not be willing to wait. But you do not need everyone to buy your product. If someone isn’t begging to be your first beta tester, then they probably aren’t an early adopter. You need early adopters to try new products. These people or companies will deal with a nascent product full of bugs, and they will provide product feedback to help make it better. Unless you personally have significant experience operating in the industry you are building for, you will need these customers to guide your product discovery and development cycles.
Even without a product, a skilled sales person should be able to get a signed contract or at least a letter of intent before even before starting to build the product. If a prospect is seriously interested, there is no reason why you can’t put in writing “if we build it and it does this, then you will pay us this much money.”
A rockstar sales person would get them to prepay for the product. If they are committed enough to buy it, then they should be committed enough to buy it now.
