Demand is all that matters
Everything else is a distraction
I’ve spent two weeks in a master class on startup building called PMF Camp.
I learned one thing: demand is all that matters.
You’d think I’d have learned this lesson by now. This is my sixth startup!
No, I took my eye off the ball.
Demand is progress people want to make in their lives. It’s their struggles, their problems, their critical path projects.
Without demand you have an idea.
With demand you have a business.
Demand comes on a spectrum. Think mosquito bite vs. shark bite spectrum (all too common analogy shared in venture circles).
Demand exists independent of your product idea (supply).
What I learned in PMF camp is a process for finding demand. Rigor and discipline around searching for demand.
This is not a “tell me what your pain is around this thing on a scale of 1-10.”
People complain but they don’t buy unless the demand is there.
Demand is related to pain but it’s more. Everyone has a Trello board of projects they are working on (progress they NEED to make). You want to find the demand in the column labeled “critical and must do.” If you aren’t, it’ll be an uphill battle.
Find demand and then show how your product can fulfill their demand.
In my stage (pre-product, pre-revenue, pre-anything), I’m starting with finding demand as the North Star. Until I find that, I have ideas but nothing concrete.
Test demand by talking to real potential customers. Ask them if they would buy and mean it. Don’t take what people say. Look at what they do. Is there some intensity around the project? Do they lean in and say “oh boy if you could knock this off my plate for me that would really move the needle?”
We’re looking for excitement, a “hell yes”, a “how fast can we get started?”
I don’t think I’ve really ever seen demand in a repeatable fashion. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it and some of my startups but not the “hell yes” demand PMF camp has helped a dozen startups find.
Without demand you’re pushing up a hill. With demand, you’re flying down it.
I’m running the process I learned in PMF Camp. I’m super excited about what I’m learning.
I’ll report back soon with more progress.
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#HappyLearning
P.S. a great primer on this is Bob Moesta’s incredible book Demand-Side Sales
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