
Everyone I spoke with loved the idea... - jkopelman
http://redeye.firstround.com/2010/04/everyone-i-spoke-with-loved-the-idea.html
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johnrob
Excellent advice, you can never hear stuff like this enough times. I don't buy
everything I want/need. There is some stuff I simply care more about, and
that's where my attention goes.

In addition to asking 'does the customer need this?', you should ask 'does the
customer KNOW they need this?'. If the answer is no, your startup has two
insanely difficult problems instead of one.

~~~
rsedmak
Your second point illustrates the difference between a latent need and an
active need. It's difficult enough to gain attention for active needs, yet
alone latent needs.

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aidenn0
1995 was not the era of 1200 baud modems. I'm going to go as far as to say the
only place you could buy a 1200 baud modem in 1995 was at a junk sale.

USR introduced its 14400 baud modem in 1989

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ryanb
Correct. I remember 28k being the norm around then.

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andrewljohnson
I lost interest when he said a good product isn't good enough, you need some
sort of spam engine.

That's not been my experience, neither from a maker or buyer perspective. Good
software sells itself.

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gruseom
_I lost interest when he said a good product isn't good enough, you need some
sort of spam engine._

That is a severe distortion; of course he never said that. He didn't imply it,
either, unless you add the assumption that all marketing is spam.

As for "good software sells itself", the bulk of the post is devoted to an
example where that didn't happen.

~~~
ssp
To be precise, it's devoted to an example where software didn't sell itself.
Maybe it was just bad and nobody wanted to tell their friends about it.

