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.

Handbag founder Stephanie Ippesen found that products designed from customer aesthetic suggestions failed, while those from her own intuition were bestsellers. She learned to filter feedback, implementing functional requests like strap length or zipper closures, while retaining full creative control over the brand's style and design.

Customers request specific features (supply), but this masks the true demand—the underlying problem they're trying to solve. Focusing on the 'why' behind the request leads to simpler, more effective solutions, like building a digest email instead of a complex 'advanced settings' page.

When building a product to solve a partner's problem, be wary of their feedback. They may hold the product to an impossibly high standard or fall into a user segment that would never pay, making them a poor proxy for the broader market. Their critique is valuable but can be emotionally taxing and misleading.

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.

Activities like discovery interviews and seeking design partners often feel productive and validating. However, they are frequently designed to make founders feel comfortable and avoid the difficulty of real selling and deep immersion. True progress comes from uncomfortable, direct actions, not feel-good processes.