What does every investor know that every entrepreneur should know? It is the one thing that investors relentlessly hound entrepreneurs about, it is the simple question of “Who the fuck cares?”
If you can’t answer that question as an entrepreneur, you have a lot of work to do. The reason that investors know this and many entrepreneurs don’t is because investors see many startups and watch the 50-75% of their investments fail. Regardless of whether they take a methodical approach to building or evaluating the business if no one but the founders care the business is going to go nowhere.
If you’re an entrepreneur…the more evidence you can bring about people caring (buying, using, and so on), the harder it will be for investors to gloss over the business.
I believe this to be true. When I posted this infographic awhile back I had some dissenting opinions. Many founders seem to think that a lack of cash is the #1 cause of failure. While capital will enable you to better execute on a killer strategy, it’s a complete waste if people don’t want the product. For this reason, I think, people are so attracted to Ries’ Lean Startup methodology.
Talk about it, shout it on the web & social media, grills your friends about whether they’d actually pay for it. And most importantly: talk to strangers about the idea. They are the best sounding board for whether the idea is interesting.