Pre-Sell Before You Build
Do customer validation and line up buyers before writing code or raising money
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
For anyone unsure where to start a startup, Caldwell's tactical advice is to do customer validation first — talk to potential customers and try to pre-sell something — before building product, making slide decks, or raising money. Lined-up, excited customers are the green light that it's time to build; you only start coding once you have conviction at least one person will use it.
Origin
Dalton Caldwell's closing tactical advice on how to start a startup.
Core principles
- 01Customer validation comes before building a PowerPoint deck, raising money, or writing code
- 02Excited, lined-up customers are a strong green light that it's time to do the startup
- 03Building should begin only after you have conviction that at least one person would use the thing
- 04Confidence and conviction are built by customers and data reflecting back that you're on the right track, not summoned in advance
How to run it
- 1
Do customer validation first
Before anything else, talk to potential customers and try to pre-sell something rather than starting with a deck, fundraising, or code.
Pro tip Give yourself permission to talk to potential customers and pre-sell before you write a single line of code.
Watch out Starting with a PowerPoint deck or a fundraise before validation is the common wrong order.
- 2
Look for the green light
Line up customers and gauge genuine excitement; people who are really excited and willing to commit are the signal that it's time to do the startup.
- 3
Build once you have conviction of one user
Start building only when you have conviction that at least one real person would actually use the thing you want to build.
Pro tip Aim low but concrete — conviction that one person will use it is enough to justify starting to build.
Watch out Don't build on speculation absent any evidence a single customer wants it.
In the wild
Zip filled their calendars with procurement conversations and pre-sold their first product before building it, lining up early beta testers from their outreach.
→ Customer conviction preceded and justified the build.
Common mistakes
Building or fundraising before validating
Writing code or raising money before confirming customer demand inverts the order that de-risks a startup.
Is it for you?
Best for
First-time or aspiring founders who don't know where to begin starting a company
Not ideal for
Deep-tech or research-heavy products where meaningful validation is impossible without substantial prior building
From the transcript
“just to give you permission to talk to potential customers and try to pre-sell something before you write code”
“start doing customer validation first versus building a PowerPoint deck versus trying to raise money”
“if you find people that are really excited and you you do line up customers that is a great green light that it is time…”
“build it once you have some conviction that you're like oh I think I would have a customer”
From the episode
Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more
Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director)