2 builders who never spoke to each other

Treat praise as noise and ask for the card

People find it socially awkward to tell a founder their idea is weak, so warm feedback in a meeting predicts nothing. Convert enthusiasm into a priced offer on the spot and watch what the person does, because the objections only surface once the money is real.

The method

1. 01

   Treat verbal enthusiasm as worthless: nothing is validated until a card has been charged, even when the people involved sounded eager.

2. 02

   Treat feedback as real only when a credit card was involved.

3. 03

   Treat a stated willingness to pay as worthless data and convert it immediately into a real transaction attempt by naming a price and asking for the money now.

4. 04

   Never read compliments about your demo as buying intent; ask for the order in the room and see what happens.

5. 05

   Treat warm praise in a pitch meeting as politeness, not validation: telling a founder their idea is weak is socially hard, so prospects say encouraging things and then do not buy.

What it returned

• 8

  8 of 10 knowledgeable friends said they would buy ConvertKit and several said they would preorder; not one of them actually preordered when the page went live

• 20

  Justin expected hundreds at his conference demo and got 20; several people praised his presenting, all but five declined to buy, and their existing spreadsheets were working fine.

• Zue's script is to answer enthusiasm with a price and an offer to complete the sale on the spot; the prospects who had promised to pay then produced missing-feature and comparison-shopping objections.

• The standard reply he hears is that it looks great but they are not buying now and you should call back later in the year.

Sources

• Fish where the fish areJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Are they jumping in your boat? · undated
• Ultimate validationJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Ultimate validation · undated
• Product Purgatory: When they love it but still don’t buyJason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · Product Purgatory: When they love it but still don’t buy · 2025-05-04
• Lessons from building a blog to 10,000 subscribers in a year (video course)Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · The Lessons · 2013-08-19
• Can preorders work for software-as-a-service companies?Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · 2013-02-25
• Validating an Idea is Hard: Part 2Cory Zue · coryzue.com · The “I would pay for this” fallacy · 2017-05-29
• How the most successful B2B startups came up with their original ideaRyan Glasgow · lennysnewsletter.com · What makes a great B2B startup idea · 2023-08-08