INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: what early-stage product thinking sounds like

You learn to hear it fast. Not just what they say, but what it means.

“If we capture just one percent of the market” means the business model is a spreadsheet with a dream in cell A1.

“The product will sell itself” means nobody has talked to a customer yet.​

“We don’t have any competition” means they skipped the research.​

“I need you to sign an NDA first” often means the idea is being protected harder than it is being tested.​

“We’ll figure out marketing later” means adoption is not part of the plan.

None of this means they are stupid. It means they are new.

Those that will make it learn fast. They expose the idea, test it, let it take hits, and adjust. The others protect the fantasy and ask everyone else to build around it.

The ones who know what they don’t know yet are usually worth the conversation. The ones who aren’t willing to listen rarely are.