You’ve built a product and no one is interested. Why? And what to do about it?

There are several candidates for being named as the “failure enablers”. But it all can be distilled down to: you don’t know who did you build it for.

After consulting, mentoring and coaching startup founders for almost 2 years I have come up with a super simple test that predicts with 70% certainty would a particular startup get traction or/and raise from investors. It works like this: I ask a founder who their customer is and look for the level of details they can provide about this person.

Example:

— I’m building a marketplace for female freelancers.

— Who are your customers?

Bad answer, no traction, no investment:

— I want to work with women globally.

Good answer, high chances to succeed:

— On the supply side I’m targeting women from 25 to 45 yo, with college education, degree in design, computer science, journalism and literature who don’t speak English very well and are located in the Middle East.

Example: