The biggest lesson I learned in entrepreneurship đ
My 10+ years of experience were a rollercoaster, but one lesson stuck with me: a great product practically SCREAMS how to show it off in a demo video.
This lesson is **super important** so I will repeat it:
When your product is so good, the demo ideas just flow. If youâre stuck, itâs rarely about finding the right marketing idea; itâs about nailing the solution to your industry problem and knowing exactly who needs it first.
Two days ago, Elon Musk posted a thread about an upcoming Tesla car, and one specific tweet caught my eye:
Wow. Just wow.
Even months before the carâs release, Elon is excited about the demo video.
If youâre struggling to show off what your product does, itâs a signal to dig deeper into:
The problem youâre solving: Are you truly addressing a burning pain point for your audience?
Your solution: Is it clear and focused? Is it easy to get to the Aha moment? Does it exceed expectations?
The âwowâ factor: What feature or benefit will blow peopleâs minds when they see it in action?
My worst times in marketing were when we didnât nail these 3 elements⌠and working on a product demo was a nightmare (it was NOT intuitive nor natural). I wish I was smart enough then to say: âWait, before the demo, we need to fix the product.â
Across all the startups I worked at, my own acquired product, and even this newsletter, the pattern is clear: Whenever I can easily imagine the demo, marketing messages, or distribution tactics *before* doing anything, I know Iâm on the right track.
My demo for the Viral Post Generator practically wrote itself:
The idea for this newsletter (Marketing Ideas) immediately made me think of all the taglines, launches, and promotion ideas before it even existed. Today, 7 months and 7,860 subscribers later, itâs still growing strong.
When itâs easy - itâs probably good.
Remember: Donât be afraid to revisit and iterate on your product. Showing it to the world shouldnât feel like a forced process.
If your product sparks ideas for an amazing demo, you might be onto something truly game-changing. Kudos đ
See you next week,
Tom
P.S. I just won the #1 Product of the MONTH award. Iâm speechless. Thank you âĽ
I couldn't agree more :)
It's a very common practice to write the release notes before you write the product documentation đ¤
This applies well to developing a Substack newsletter. When you're not getting enough traction it's easy to focus on how to improve promotion. But probably better (and more satisfying) to keep working on the content đ