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I wasted $12k building a product nobody wanted. Here is how I fix my process
- DonAj 8mo agoI spent four months and $12,000 building an inventory tool for coffee shops. I had a great tech stack and a name I loved. The only thing I didn't have was a single honest conversation with a cafe owner. When I finally tried to sell it, I realized within 48 hours that they didn't want a dashboard. They just wanted a way to stop their milk delivery guy from overcharging them on Tuesdays. I could have learned that in three 20-minute phone calls. The mistake was hunting for a 'Yes.' Politeness is the enemy of validation. Now, I go into interviews looking for the 'No.' If I can't find a reason to kill the idea in the interview phase, it might actually be worth building. I've been refining a framework for this—focusing on past behavior rather than future promises. I shared the first few steps of the 2026 playbook here, including why asking 'would you use this?' is a trap: https://ideatolaunch.co/blog/how-to-conduct-effective-customer-interviews-for-startup-validation-a-2026-playb-mlv5gdw7 https://ideatolaunch.co/blog/how-to-conduct-effective-custom... I'm curious—for those of you who have pivoted based on an interview, what was the specific 'aha' moment that killed your original thesis?