#85: How To Build A Product People Want

Read Time: 2.5 min

In this issue, I will discuss a common challenge early-stage startups face: deciding what to build or which direction to pivot.

In my experience, roughly 66%+ of YC founders pivot their product. Some companies pivot over a dozen times. One of our clients, Rutter, pivoted 20 times before finding PMF and crushing it.

The first iteration of your product, or what we’d call the MVP, is designed as a minimum tool to validate whether or not there is a market. The goal is to sell as much as possible before wrangling all engineering sources. We preach to always sell before you build.

My goal for this issue is to help you answer four foundational questions essential when starting to build or consider a pivot. If you have a product in an industry that aligns with these questions, you are light years ahead.

In a great market with many potential customers, you don’t need to find a product; the market will pull the product out of the startup.

~ Marc Andreessen

The most successful start-ups I’ve worked with always solve a huge problem with a very simple solution. We have many client use cases of this, but one of the most recent is our client Avoca. Huge problem, simple solution—a very successful company crushing it.

It’s not always the case, but the more complex and technical the solution, the smaller the market (TAM) is. When the market is small, you have to compete for a very small slice of the pie, and unless you have something revolutionary, it’s challenging to grow a big business. It’s typically a race to the bottom.

Here are the four questions you must align with and why they’re essential.

1. Are you solving a bum knee or a broken leg problem? 

   The latter will always win. Why? Because if I have a bum knee, it might be uncomfortable, it might suck, but for most people, it’s not enough for them to elect to get surgery. People typically don’t take action until the pain is unbearable. However, if I have a broken femur, I’m incapacitated. I need help immediately. Pain infers intent. Intent is motivation. When someone is in great pain, they are motivated. Real buyers are motivated. Solve a broken leg problem. Be in the business of selling casts to people with broken bones, not in the business of selling supportive braces. The former is a necessity; the latter is a luxury.
   
   
   

2. Are you building a product that has a huge addressable market?

   The bigger the market, the more surface area you can cover. Building a product with a very small addressable market (TAM) is tough because you will have very few companies to target in your TAM. Your product has to be infinitely better than what currently exists, and the players who are already established in the space will be tough to compete with because of their footprint in a tiny market. As noted, it’s typically a race to the bottom or to try and scrape a small piece of a very small pie. If you want to build a big, sustainable business, aim for a massive TAM where you can continuously expand and capture value.
   
   
   

3. Can your ICP afford your product, and are they easily reachable?

   Imagine being in the business of trying to sell Porsche’s to people who are economically in the market for a Honda. Insane right? I see this constantly. When you build a product, you want to know that the buyer(s) can afford it. It also helps exponentially when you know who your buyer is. Where do they live, and what do they talk about? What keeps them up at night? What circles do they run with? What groups/associations are they a part of, etc? Referring back to our client, whom I mentioned earlier as an example.
   
   Avoca sells an easy to use solution to a huge problem (broken leg). The market is massive, and millions of companies probably exist within their TAM (HVAC and other service-based businesses). They know who their buyer is (HVAC owners). Lastly, they know exactly how to target them. Most service-based business owners are in the field and typically conduct business over the phone. They are also part of groups and associations and are easy to find. All the boxes are checked here.
   
   
   

4. Is your product easy to use and understand?

   The more complex the product, the more thinking, the more thinking required, the more stakeholders they have to loop in, the more stakeholders they have to loop in the longer the sales cycle, the longer the sales cycle, the higher the probability they ghost. When buyers are confused, or it requires a ton of effort to use and understand your product, sales cycles will be super long and complex. If you follow my suggestion and build a simple solution to a big problem that is easy to use, you will be in a much better position to get to PMF fast.

   
   
   There is more to it than is mentioned in this issue, and there is a lot of nuance here, but this is the cornerstone of where you should start. If your product answers each one of these questions and you have a repeatable sales process dialed in, you will kill it. Rarely have I seen all four of these boxes checked, coupled with a deadly GTM in place fail. It just doesn’t happen. If you need coaching and predictable processes, Rampd can help.

   
   
   

   Key Takeaways

   • Solve a broken leg problem.

   • Solve a problem with a huge market.

   • Make your product super simple to use.

   • Sell your product to people who can afford it.

   
   

That’s it for today!

See you all next week.

Darren

P.S. If you’re a venture-backed SaaS company interested in coaching, book a call here.

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