Description

There's a bug in a founder's brain (or at least mine) that likes to fantasize about all the benefits for customer (alleviating pain points, delivering value, helping differentiate, ...), while ignoring the more important question: 

"Could they *not* buy?"

Rob helps us understand a different standard from what founders have historically used, which is requisite for a startup to find PULL at scale and hit hypergrowth: Is buying mandatory, or is it just optional? 

There are some very subtle things that founders do wrong related to this, including: 

• Focusing on "happiest / most satisfied / most valuable" customers rather than the ones for whom buying is mandatory 
• Thinking probabilistically about customers ("4 in 10 customers with XYZ buy") instead of deterministically ("This very specific customer cannot not buy my product") 

Hope this one helps you reframe the way you think about your ICP - because really, it's the most important early decision we founders make.  

Full Substack post: Is buying optional? 

Rob's ICP AI skill: https://github.com/RSSnyder13/icp 

Links

• Rob's Substack: The Physics of Startups 
• AI Rob waitlist: https://robsnyder.org/ai-rob
• Work with Rob 1:1: https://www.robsnyder.org 
• Get The Power of PULL: Amazon (https://amzn.to/48KC1yv), Barnes & Noble: (https://bit.ly/4dyMTSv)
• Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsnyder1/