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independence6 unconnected · 2 more authors in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

confidence

high

evidence

15 claims · 14 articles · 4 receipts

window

2017-08-24 → 2026-06-18

6 builders who never spoke to each other

Build for a market you already belong to

Unmet demand is mostly invisible from outside, so the reliable position is inside a group whose work you have done and whose frustrations you have felt. Belonging also fixes the credibility problem, since you can say something to these people that an outsider cannot.

The method

  1. 01

    Build for an industry or audience you already belong to, since insider familiarity is what makes your guesses about their needs accurate.

  2. 02

    Build for an audience you already belong to and follow, not for an industry you concluded from the outside might need software.

  3. 03

    Hunt for unmet demand only inside a category you already understand, since good opportunities are rarely visible to outsiders.

  4. 04

    Start the company in a field you have already worked in, which roughly doubles the odds of building something extremely successful.

  5. 05

    Enter a category where you have personally suffered the problem and can see demand accelerating from outside events.

What it returned

  • 2012

    Jon Buda had built the first version of Simplecast and Justin had been in podcasting since 2012; both had felt how hard starting a show was, and they saw new podcasters arriving in numbers after Serial and StartUp.

  • Justin quotes Corey Stone on this point.

  • Amy Hoy of 30x500 argues successful companies serve people already in their audience.

  • Seth Stephens-Davidowitz's finding, which Justin pairs with his own point that you are unlikely to spot an unmet demand in a category you do not already understand.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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More in positioning

all positioning plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.