Is there really no demand, or are you shit at selling?
Food for your thought; answers I'd like to hear from you.
Demand validation is a challenge I've faced and a responsibility I’ve had in every role since I started my career and everything I've built to date.
If you've ever made the mistake of not validating demand before your product launch, you've likely experienced overstocked inventory, reduced cash flow, and wasted your time building something no one will use.
Fortunately in SaaS, time is often your primary cost, and there are always learnings you can apply to your next thing.
We need to position the research budget as part of the Product or Marketing budget. The former is often perceived by management as a nice-to-have, while the latter is a must-have. We need to make it the norm to include user research and demand validation as a Product Manager or Marketer’s responsibilities. A business-as-usual activity (BAU).
Food for thought:
When you find it hard to validate demand for a concept, is there really no demand, or are you shit at selling?
When prospects reverse pitch you something else, what's your process in assessing the business value in what they're requesting?
If you've thought of an idea, chances are someone else has thought about it too before you. So why do you think they haven't they built it already?
Sales (pre-orders) is a good way to validate demand, but what if it's a product people wouldn't typically pre-order? What leading indicators would you be comfortable with to invest in a production run?
I’d love to hear your answers.
“It’s a no if it’s so hard to say yes.”
When identifying whether you should persist or move on, a good leading indicator for many things I've built (for other founders and myself) has been "if the users don’t respond with a fuck yes with excitement, it's likely a no."
If you're validating demand for what you want to sell, go read Dan Norris's recent article, “Startup validation red flags and green flags,” as we've shared a similar experience.
If your solution hits a real pain point, people will prioritise chatting with you because it's a solution they've been yearning for. "Can we chat tonight?" "Can we catch up tomorrow?" "Are you free to jump on a call later?" "Can you email more details after this call?"
If your solution is a nice-to-have and not a must-have, keep in mind that many people don't know how to say no. It's easy to be misled: "They're busy, but they're keen; we'll reconnect later on." It could end up a waste of time for both parties.
A good salesperson can quickly pick up subtle signs and identify this.
At best, if you keep persisting, they might end up being a freemium user with low usage and no intent to be an advocate. all because they don't know how to say no to you.
I'll also point out that it's easy to blame it on customers not wanting your product when in reality it might be customers don’t get it because of your product marketing. (E.g. Confusing positioning, trying to solve too many things instead of doing one thing right, bad business model.)
So keep it simple. The most important one of my five ideal criteria to assess a startup is, "Does it help people make money?" It's the most straightforward value proposition there is.
The primary criteria I use to assess whether a startup is worth working for* or on:
Does it help people make money?
Does it help people save money?
Does it help people save time?
Is there an aggregate data play?
Does it enhance quality of life?
2025 Edit: The primary criteria Michael Skok (Underscore VC) uses to assess a startup:
Unworkable. If not solved, there are serious consequences like churn and downtime.
Unavoidable. It will happen no matter what. For example, taxes, aging, regulation.
Urgency. It’s the user's top priority right now. Underserved, existing solutions are broken or too expensive.
When doing user research and outreach to prospects, I share the vision and mission of our startup, use cases, and some features, then go through the list above with them.
How important is each of the criteria to them?
If I’m assessing whether it’s a startup I want to work for or work on, there are other things I look at, such as the industry, its competitors, its business model and unit economics (if provided), whether they’re customer-centric, and many other things. But even then, I’ve somehow managed to keep working for startups that turn out not to be what they’ve presented themselves to be.
The solution? Focus on aspects I can control, which is staying in a full-time job while validating demand for what to build as our next thing. One that can turn into a full-time job and our life’s work. But first, we’ve got to keep refining our demand validation process, as we have.
If you resonated with my reflection and perspective, I’d love to hear how you’ve been approaching the demand validation of what you’re selling. Just hit reply and say hello!
Until next time,
Josiah