Growth
5 min read
How to tell real demand from polite interest
Everyone you interview will say your idea is interesting. Almost none of them will buy it. A few questions separate signal from courtesy.
Customer interviews are full of encouragement. People are generous with their time and reluctant to tell a stranger that their idea is unremarkable. The result is a research deck that reads beautifully and predicts nothing.
Ask about the past, not the future
“Would you use this?” invites a hypothetical, and hypotheticals are free. “What did you do the last time this problem came up, and what did it cost you?” invites a fact. Only one of those has any predictive value.
Look for evidence of effort
Real demand leaves a trace. People have already built a spreadsheet, hired a contractor, written a workaround, or paid for something adjacent. If nobody has yet spent money or time on the problem, you are probably looking at an inconvenience rather than a need.
What have they already tried?
What did the workaround cost them?
Who signs off on a purchase like this?
Which budget line would it come from?
What would have to be true for them to switch?
The willingness-to-pay question
Ask for a number early, then watch the hesitation rather than the answer. Someone who names a figure quickly has thought about it before. Someone who says “it depends” usually means the problem is not yet urgent enough to have a price.
More Insights
Recognize the problem?
If any of this sounds like your business, a short conversation is usually the fastest way to find out what is really going on.