When I sit down to write these posts I visualize a specific founder - usually one in the program I’ve spoken with in the past week - waiting for a bus that’ll take them to the next step of their business.
The goal is to make the post a bus.
And yes, I know I could have used AI to make this look “better,” but I basically dismiss anything created by AI these days as unoriginal and not actually thought through. Maybe I’m wrong to think that. Either way, I’ll stick to my clip art and shaky-hand stick figures.
Starting with the bus diagram ensures that the post is at least theoretically helpful. I recommend it for any content you make.
Anyway, the gap between “I think people want this” and “I have 3-10 people who have shown intent” is big and scary. To navigate it, most founders cast the widest net possible. Surely this is the best way to pick up the people they need.
You’ve obviously guessed from my tone that the answer is no.
Here’s an example.
Right out of college I taught basketball lessons on the Upper East Side to middle schoolers. I had the idea when I saw a ton of fliers for the same service and, because I had no better ideas, I made my own flier and added it to the mix. I mentioned my college basketball experience, described some drills we’d do, and priced it 10% lower than everyone else. Shockingly, this didn’t work. I got zero calls.
Then, for some reason I still can’t explain, I turned my flier into a casting call. I put up fliers that said something like:
“LOOKING FOR:
Talented, driven 11-13 year olds who want to play college basketball one day.
We do hour-long lessons Saturday and Sunday mornings in small groups of (four players max).
YOU MUST BE:
Already practicing 1+ hours / day
Shooting to play Varsity Basketball your freshman or sophomore year of high school
Committed to playing college basketball one day
If this is you, email here”
This flier got me all the signups I could handle and had two other interesting consequence:
One - I totally forgot to print the second page of the flier which had all the details - an example session, my credentials and the cost of the program. I didn’t realize I’d forgotten the second page until I was uptown and just put them up anyway.
Two - lots of kids who didn’t fit the description reached out. There were certainly kids who met the criteria, but most didn’t. And they didn’t pretend they did - they’d qualify the whole thing (and by “they” I mean “the kid’s parents”) by emailing with things like “he isn’t all that interested but I want him to have a serious program,” or, “he isn’t talented but he loves it - I don’t think he’ll play college basketball but I want him to have a shot.”
This was the beginning of a hard and fast rule I learned over the next decade:
A clear identity, no matter what it is, is irresistible
Because every other business will hem and haw with it’s marketing, terrified to miss out on potential customers if they don’t market broadly, a product that’s for a specific person and not for others will stand out. An identity is scarce, and scarcity is desirable.
As a result, if you put out a list of clear qualifications you’ll get a ton of inbound from people who don’t fit those qualifications (as well as people who do).
But if you’d tried to get those same people with broad marketing, you’d get none of them.
Clear qualifications create the impression that you know what you’re doing, which is all anyone is looking for these (or any) days.
It also creates the chance to be chosen. The best three words in the english language are “I choose you,” and specificity shifts the conversation from a customer choosing you to you choosing a customer.
So, treat your outreach for customers for intent testing and concierge MVPs like your casting for a school play. Make a list of characteristics of a customer who would be perfect for you - one you’re confident you can help. Embed the problem you’re solving in those qualifications - I didn’t do this on purpose at the time, but the clear embedded problem in my basketball casting call is that kids really want to make varsity as freshman and sophomores and they want a program that’s specialized and not just a town league.
The details of the product (the features) don’t matter - people assume you’ve got that figured out if you can clearly describe the person you’re targeting.
Build out a sheet for a casting call for your perfect customer, make it exclusive to them, and see how it works.