The most significant mindset shift for founders is realizing they can't force a customer to have demand. Demand is an objective state in the customer's world—a project they are already trying to accomplish. This transforms sales calls from high-pressure convincing into low-pressure discovery, liberating the founder from feeling responsible for the outcome.
Related Insights
Many founders assume that identifying a customer's "pain point" signals a business opportunity. However, most people tolerate countless pain points without acting. True demand comes from an unavoidable, active project for which they are seeking a solution, not just a passive problem.
Most founders instinctively try to "push" sales forward: creating urgency, sending non-stop follow-ups, and trying to convince prospects. The actual physics of sales is "pull." When a customer has genuine demand and lacks good options, they will do the work—scheduling meetings, bringing in stakeholders, and asking for information—to acquire your solution.
Standard discovery questions about 'pain points' are too broad. Instead, focus on concrete 'projects on their to-do list.' This reveals their immediate priorities, existing attempts, and the specific 'pull' that will drive a purchase, allowing you to align your solution perfectly.
Successful startups tap into organic customer needs that already exist—a 'pull' from the market. In contrast, 'conjuring demand' involves a founder trying to convince a market of a new worldview without prior evidence. This is a much harder and less reliable path to building a business.
Founders mistakenly treat their product idea as fixed while searching for customers. The correct mindset is the reverse: customer needs are a fixed reality. Your product is the variable you must shape to fit that reality, not the other way around.
This reframes the fundamental goal of a startup away from a supply-side focus (building) to a demand-side focus (discovery). The market's unmet need is the force that pulls a company and its product into existence, not the other way around.
The "Pull Framework" defines demand not by pain, but by observable action. It requires a customer to have an active, unavoidable project, to have already explored existing options, and to find those options insufficient. This is the signal for a product they will eagerly "pull" from your hands, even if it's imperfect.
Using a child's toy analogy, demand is a pre-existing hole (e.g., a star shape) and your product is the block. Founders fail when they build a block and then search for a hole it fits. The real job is to first deeply understand the shape of the hole, then craft a block that fits it perfectly.
Founders often dread sales because they mistakenly believe their role is to aggressively convince customers. This "seller push" feels inauthentic. Adopting a "buyer pull" perspective, where you help customers solve existing problems, transforms sales from a chore into a collaborative process.