Lead Generation Before Product
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 7
- Confidence
- —
Cliff’s startup sequence reverses the common impulse to build a polished app before testing demand. Start with either a recurring problem or a technology that has only recently become possible, then define a simple offer, business model, and customer-acquisition route. Validate demand before substantial development by collecting payments, commitments, or at least email addresses. Deliver the earliest version through a sketch, spreadsheet, manual service, or other low-cost mechanism. Product work and distribution should then advance together, with at least comparable attention paid to getting users. Once demand and delivery work, strengthen the business through a defensible moat and a team of exceptional people who believe in the founder and the vision.
Origin
Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal
How to run it
- 1
Find a Problem or Emerging Capability
Notice experiences that feel broken, or identify technology that exists now—or will within three years—that did not previously exist.
Pro tip Ask repeatedly: this sucks, how can I fix it?
- 2
Define the Offer and Buyer
Choose a simple product concept, a viable business model, and whether the buyer is a business or a consumer.
Watch out A technically interesting idea still needs a coherent way to create and capture value.
- 3
Select an Acquisition Engine
Decide whether customers will arrive through referrals, profitable advertising, sales, content, search, app-store discovery, or another deliberate channel.
Pro tip Choose a channel and go deeply into learning how it works.
Watch out Building a good product does not cause users to appear automatically.
- 4
Validate Before Building
Ask prospective customers to pay, commit, or join an email list before investing in a complete product.
Pro tip Public posts can test whether people share, comment, or submit their email for the proposed offer.
- 5
Build the Simplest Delivery Version
Use a drawing, Google Sheet, manual process, or basic payment request to deliver the core result without unnecessary infrastructure.
Pro tip Cliff says many web products can initially operate from Google Sheets.
Watch out Do not spend years perfecting native apps when a sketch or spreadsheet can produce feedback.
- 6
Develop Product and Distribution Together
Continue improving the product while devoting substantial time to discovering how users will find and adopt it.
Pro tip Cliff recommends that at least half of the effort go toward bringing people to the product.
- 7
Add a Moat and an Exceptional Team
Favor models that become harder to compete with as they grow, then recruit people who can learn, execute, and believe in the mission.
Pro tip A founder’s record of doing what they promise can persuade strong people to join.
In the wild
Cliff and student video editor Sam created a video demonstrating how Speechify would work. Cliff added a basic website and a Stripe button allowing people to prepay $100. Only roughly 10 to 20 people purchased, but the payments demonstrated that the problem was real enough for users to spend money on.
→ The pre-purchases validated demand before Speechify had a polished product or established team.
The scholarship service used Google Sheets to list matched scholarships, coordinate virtual assistants, record hourly rates, and track work. Customers received the spreadsheet rather than a complex custom application, and early payments could be handled through simple payment requests.
→ Cliff delivered the service and managed operations without first building a database-heavy platform.
Common mistakes
Building for years before selling
Without payments, commitments, or conversations, extensive development does not establish that people want the result.
Starting with excessive infrastructure
A sketch, spreadsheet, or manual workflow can often test the central value proposition faster.
Assuming users will simply arrive
Cliff argues that distribution must be designed and developed alongside the product.
From the transcript
“while you're walking around the world always think to yourself this sucks how can I fix it”
“before building a product I recommend closing some sales”
“it is not the case that if you build it they will come”
From the episode
'Tell People Your Goals!': The Secret To Accomplishing Anything - Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman