Founders instinctively view the world through a "supply lens," where their product is a central feature. This biases perception, making it impossible to see the pre-existing struggles (demand) that drive purchases. To see clearly, you must mentally remove your product and yourself from your view of the world.
A common founder mistake is believing they must create demand for their new product. In reality, demand is an independent force—a person struggling to achieve something. Your job isn't to create this force, but to find where it's currently blocked and offer a solution that enables what already 'wants to happen'.
To escape the biased "supply lens," imagine viewing your potential customers as characters in the game SimCity. Observe their daily routines and workflows from a detached, third-person perspective, without your product existing in their world. This helps you identify genuine moments of struggle where they are blocked, rather than projecting problems your product could solve.
Questions like "How can our product add value?" or "How would their life be better with our product?" sound customer-focused but are fundamentally flawed. They start with the product as a given—a 'poisoned' premise that prevents you from seeing if the customer is actually stuck or needs help in the first place.
When customers use your product in surprising ways, don't just build features for the new use case. Apply the "demand lens" by rewinding time. Investigate what struggle or "pull" existed in their world *before* they discovered your product to understand the core, pre-existing demand that is driving their behavior.
Operating with a "supply lens" creates a fantasy where customers, upon seeing your product, will magically alter their path to adopt it. The harsh reality is that if people aren't already struggling, your product is an irrelevant distraction. You're effectively shouting at passersby who are content on their journey and have no reason to listen.