
Sell it before you build it - dcurtis
http://venturehacks.com/articles/sell-it-before-you-build-it
======
nir
I think if you have good sales (or sales oriented) people on the team, you
probably already are selling before you build, regardless on what stage the
company is in.

As developers, we'd often complain about sales people selling features we
haven't yet created. Only after learning about Steve Blank's Customer
Development approach I realized that's how it's supposed to be. Sales people
are the ones in contact with the client, and incoming revenue is the signal
the real world is giving you on the value of your product.

~~~
rjurney
To be fair, developers complain about salespeople selling features that don't
exist yet and promising delivery by a certain date without consulting us. That
kind of thing makes our lives hell and makes us write terrible crap that
undermines all of the company's software assets.

Selling features that don't exist is ok, just check with the guys that have to
deliver on your promises first.

~~~
nir
I know what you mean, I've been the developer in this scenario more than once
:)

In the end it's a matter of balance between sales and development. Unlike the
common "10 things you must do" stories on HN, there aren't really any well-
defined rules for this. You just hope to have smart sales people and
developers, good communication between them, and have neither side controlling
the company.

------
ryanwaggoner
This is a really interesting idea, but I'd like to see more examples with some
actual data. For example, how many people check the box? Of those, how many
actually sign up when the service is available?

~~~
Alex3917
This is pretty standard advice actually. The reason you don't hear more about
it on HN is because most of the case studies are B2B startups, and HN seems to
be less interested in those. The obvious example that comes to mind is DOS.

Another good example is a guy I met who started a business putting pro sports
logos on car seats. First he went to the national retail chains and got them
to order a hundred thousand units. Then once he made the sale he used it to
get the rights from the sports leagues to use their logos. Only then did he go
out and find a manufacturer, and by then he was already guaranteed to make
money on the deal. So his only startup costs were a couple weeks making phone
calls, and he made a ton of money.

~~~
rjurney
'Sell before you build' is an old saw, but the 'coming soon/contact' landing
page metric I had not heard before, and its great because its a very simply
algorithm for developers to follow to arrive at a successful product.

------
rjurney
Take-home message:

Step 1) Build a brief, branded landing page describing the product, with a
'contact me when you ship' form.

Step 2) Gauge interest based on form responses. Only build if interest is
strong.

Step 3) Edit product and reiterate.

Brilliant!

~~~
dmix
There's another important step:

Drive customers to the site AND make sure they are the _real_ market your
targeting before taking their feedback.

~~~
jamesbritt
Good points. I've "expressed interest" in a bazillion things, but I'm loath to
part with money. I sign up for information announcements and beta sites
because I'm simply curious about stuff, but I may not be a good customer when
you get to the bottom line.

------
triplefox
To take this to an extreme, you could simply ask people - off or online - "Do
you ever have problem x?" implicitly asking about the problem your product
will solve. The more responses you get, the more you'll know you're on to
something.

------
shafqat
I loved this article. We're doing exactly that with our B2B product for
NewsCred. Just getting it out to and seeing who's willing to pay for it, what
people think of current features, but also to prioritize the medium term
feature roadmap.

This all fits quite nicely with Steve Blank's Customer Development
methodology/framework.

------
antidaily
That looks like give it away before you ask for money for it. The checkbox is
interesting though.

------
eli
If nothing else, you've got a list of hot sales leads. And if you've got
halfway decent analytics, you could figure out that, say, people who come to
the site through a google ad are more likely to check the box than those from
TechCrunch (or whatever).

~~~
hedgehog
Additionally they can display different combinations of features for the
bullet points and prices each time the page is looked at and see what
generates the most interest.

------
jmtame
This was one of the steps mentioned in 4 hour workweek, although this example
is a little different. I don't like the book in general, but you can cherry
pick some of the cool strategies like this one.

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paraschopra
I sort of find this idea quite weird. In this case it is interesting to note
they already have a product, all they are doing is pre-selling a pro version.
But when you try to apply this strategy to a new product being created, your
focus often gets diluted. And if you are asking what customers want, you risk
to get overwhelmed by their requests. So, it is better to sell after you have
a actual (no matter how minimal) product. Frankly, I don't see a point in pre-
selling, do you?

~~~
rjurney
Yes. You'll build the wrong thing. Something nobody wants.

~~~
paraschopra
Or you would never build the right thing, because all your time is consumed in
selling the thing that is never made.

~~~
rjurney
You aren't just selling, you are learning.

You are very unlikely to get it right based on a hunch without multiple
iterations with real customers. That means that you will end up iterating
whether you build it or not. So its best to first iterate without building:
you get more iterations and less wasted development that way.

As the interview explores, that doesn't mean building nothing, but it does
mean validating an idea first and foremost.

I understand that this can be frustrating for a developer. We tend to think,
'if we build it, they will come' and we don't like sales. But personally I've
wasted too much time building elegant software... nobody much wanted, to build
new stuff without validating it first.

If you "don't get" this interview, I would suggest a second listen. It
contains a critical lesson.

------
dotmatrix
Build for long term growth.

------
sharpshoot
Go fliggo!

------
amichail
On a related note, check out Mindrosia:
[http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/11/mindrosia-app-ideas-
gener...](http://www.allfacebook.com/2007/11/mindrosia-app-ideas-generated-
through-horseplay)

