Even roles far from the customer, like engineering, make countless micro-decisions. Without an intuitive understanding of customer pull—what they're trying to achieve and why they're blocked—these decisions will likely miss the mark, even when just following a requirements document.

The discovery phase of a sales call isn't a generic interrogation or a prelude to a demo. Its only goal is to understand the customer's PULL: their specific Project, its Urgency, the other Options they've considered, and the Limitations of those options. Only then can you effectively position your product.

Many sales calls follow a rigid framework of questions without a clear goal. This leads to confusing customer responses ("demand hairball") and a premature, ineffective product demo. The focus is on pushing supply instead of truly understanding the customer's blocked demand.

Most problems customers describe are "pain points" they won't act on. You can't distinguish these from real, actionable demand ("pull") through interviews alone. The only true test is presenting a viable solution and attempting to sell it. Their reaction—whether they try to pull it from you—is the only reliable signal.

Founders must distinguish between persistence and fighting a losing battle. If you constantly feel like you're pushing a boulder uphill to convince the market, you're on the wrong path. Genuine product-market fit feels like the market is pulling you, and your job is to sprint to keep up.

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.

Buyers often volunteer the exact details of their problem—their project, its urgency, and their frustration with current options. However, traditional sales training teaches founders to ignore these cues, interrupt the customer, and pivot to pitching their solution, thereby missing critical information.