2 builders who never spoke to each other

Pick the market before you pick the product

Settle who you are serving first and let the product follow, because the size, spending habits and momentum of that group set a ceiling no amount of craft can lift. Founders who reverse the order end up polishing something excellent for people who were never going to pay for it.

The method

1. 01

   Pick the market before the product, because the size, momentum and spending habits of that group set the ceiling on what the product can earn.

2. 02

   Defer the questions of what to build, who needs it now, what they will pay, how to position it and how to reach them until after the market is chosen.

3. 03

   Your choice of market caps how successful the company can be, while product quality and timing only decide how much of that ceiling you reach.

4. 04

   Reject the notion that hard work can rescue any concept; the idea and market you choose put a hard ceiling on the outcome.

5. 05

   Accept that market choice, not effort, sets your return multiple: two founders with identical resources and identical work can land orders of magnitude apart.

What it returned

• $1,000

  $1,000 put into IBM in 2001 became $2,643; the same $1,000 in Apple became $903,471.

• Jeff Meyerson on Software Engineering Daily: a wrong product in a right market beats a right product in a wrong market many times over.

• Jordan Gal's formulation that you need the right product, market and timing, but that getting the market wrong makes everything else harder.

• Justin points to old Product Hunt listings, thousands of well-built products posted over the years, most of which never got meaningful traction.

Sources

• ⭐️ Bet on Trends – Jakob GreenfeldSahil Lavingia · jakobgreenfeld.com · ⭐️ Bet on Trends · 2020-07-24
• Same effort, but better resultsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Making better bets as entrepreneurs · undated
• Ideas aren't cheapJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Why your idea matters · undated
• The myth of the niche marketJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Gone fishing · undated
• Why you're not making salesJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · It's not about you · undated
• Business is like surfingJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Picking the right wave (choosing your market) · undated