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Explicit demand and no competition (cancer treatment) — demonstrate feasibility Explicit demand and existing competition (fashion ecommerce) — differentiate an
by yurylifshits 13y ago
Explicit demand and no competition (cancer treatment) — demonstrate feasibility
Explicit demand and existing competition (fashion ecommerce) — differentiate and show competitive advantages
Implicit demand (farmville-like games) — demonstrate early traction and prove that your product is delivering high-order values (entertainment, happiness, inspiration, meaning...)
No demand — delusion
- OnyeaboAduba 13y agoLove the comment but didn't a great man once say "customers don't know what they want till you show it to them"
- yurylifshits 13y agoThat's implicit demand
- OnyeaboAduba 13y ago"Implicit demand" by nature can be used by every entreprenuer for most ideas.
- tptacek 13y agoHence, "show traction".
- steeve 13y agoI guess this is the reason why you have to show traction.
- brandnewlow 13y agoExactly, if they'd had 15 customers paying $50/month and were adding 5 more each week, that'd be a very different story. Even if the product at that point was just Matlab-in-the-cloud, those customers could tell them what features they're looking for to help the team make the product unique.
- OnyeaboAduba 13y agoThe site having no traction is not the reason they did not get accepted. In the YC application they "explicitly" ask if you have customers. Just a guess here but Im thinking PG and company read their app before they invited them for an interview .
- loumf 13y agoBe careful with how to interpret that. They know their problems, but not the solutions. Ask them about problems that they know they want solved.
- chewing_gum 13y agoI wonder how this would work for something like the first guy trying to sell chewing gum...
- chewing_gum 13y ago> So what will you sell? > It's gum and you are supposed to chew it. > What do you mean? > You place a soft solid in your mouth and you chew it. > You are delusional. > But I'll make it colored and flavored. > Please, seek mental help.
- bernatfp 13y agoIn fact I think chewing gum was uber easy to sell. As a replacement to the toothbrush. Also as a substitute for food when you're hungry.
- itsybitsycoder 13y agoChewing gum (as in, a chewy substance you chew for the sake of chewing) was discovered/invented a long time ago, probably before money. It was a naturally-occurring part of the tree. If you mean modern chewing gum, it had to differentiate itself from the previous iteration of chewing gum.
- Fuzzwah 13y agoThis reminds me of a comedy sketch I heard once which was someone returning from the new world in the 1500's and was pitching the idea of smoking to an investor. "But why would you do that?" I found the sketch very funny at the time, but have since found out that the real initial pitch answer was "It cures everything!". "Anything that harms a man inwardly from his girdle upward might be removed by a moderate use of the herb."
- hsuresh 13y agoAnd there lies a startup's life - figuring out what the demand is, and demonstrating feasibility/traction.