Building a product

• Evaluate your market independently, from the first principles (don’t trust the market research reports)

• Stay actively curious about your broader market

  • read industry news, blogs, communities

  • talk to primary source

  • process the news critically

• Value risk

  • (Proof of Demand) Do people want the value I promise? (Test: Landing page and Waitlist)

  • (Proof of Value) Can I deliver the value I promise? (Test: MVP)

A typical startup goes through several fairly well-defined stages:

• Preseed: address value and demand risks / prototype and waitlist

• Seed: address unit economics and retention / working product, ready to scale

• Round A: address distribution risks / repeatable and sustainable acquisition models