Startups: Are you building a vitamin or a pain killer product?

Pain killers are something that customers must buy. Vimatins are nice-to-have but not urgent.

Most founders struggle to tell if they're building vitamins or painkillers.

Here's what a real painkiller looks like:

• Customers buy without thinking twice • Budget appears instantly • Sales happen in days, not months • Users say "I need this" not "sounds cool"

But here's the truth 🧿

You can't convert a vitamin into a painkiller.

The market decides.

Think about Stripe's early days:

Developers were desperate for a solution.

The pain was obvious and expensive.

Growth happened through pure word of mouth.

That's what a painkiller feels like.

Here's my simple checklist to know which one you're building:

1. The Reality Test ⚡

• Do users actively seek solutions?

• Or do you need to educate them?

2. The Money Test 💰

• Does budget appear instantly?

• Or do they "need to think about it"?

3. The Urgency Test ⏰

• Do they want it this month?

• Or is it "maybe next quarter"?

4. The Solution Test 🔄

• Are they actively looking for alternatives?

• Or is current way "working fine"?

5. The Decision Test 💪

• Do deals close in 1-2 calls?

• Or do they need "more meetings"?

6. The Value Test 🎯

• Can they quantify the cost of the problem?

• Or is it "nice to have"?

7. The Team Test 👥

• Does the whole team want it?

• Or do you need to convince them?

The brutal truth?

"If you need to explain why they need it...

You're building a vitamin.

Real pain is obvious

Not a marketing challenge."

Remember:

• Pain creates urgency

• Pain finds its own budget

• Pain shortens sales cycles

• Pain drives word of mouth

• Pain makes decisions easy

• Pain grows without marketing

Author

AiUTOMATING PEOPLE, ABN ASIA was founded by people with deep roots in academia, with work experience in the US, Holland, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. ABN Asia is where academia and technology meet opportunity. With our cutting-edge solutions and competent software development services, we're helping businesses level up and take on the global scene. Our commitment: Faster. Better. More reliable. In most cases: Cheaper as well.

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