HARDWARE FOUNDERS: don't build your product until you answer these five questions

___ Stop me if you've heard this one. Founder has an idea, builds the product, launches it, then crickets. Seen it dozens of times.

Before we agree to work on a new product now, we answer five questions. Not surveys, not assumptions, real conversations with real people who have the problem.

1.​ How are you solving this today? If they're doing nothing, there's no demand.

2.​ What's frustrating about your current solution? Looking for pain, not politeness.

3.​ How often does this come up? Once in a while doesn't build a business.

4.​ What happens if this never gets fixed? If the answer is "I deal with it," there's no urgency.

5.​ Have you paid for a solution before? Interest is cheap, spending is honest.

If you can't answer these clearly after talking to people, don't build. Guessing is expensive, and you don’t want to go down that road.

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