Steve Benson

It's very hard to get loans.

You've got to get equity capital if you have no revenue.

I think a founder needs to start selling before you have the product.

So before you invest in a sales team, before you hire your first salesperson, and before the product's even built, someone on the founding team, they have to have ownership, they have to have control, they have to have a seat at the table.

needs to be out in front of customers, pushing your message.

And, and it can be, and I'm talking about hundreds of people that you have to be, you know, who you're, you're, you think your ideal customer profile is, you've got to get out and get in front of those guys.

And like, really, um,

Hey, this is the thing I'm building.

I think I'm building it for you.

If that's true, would you buy it for this much money?

And that's really important, the buy it for this much money part, because no one's ever going to tell you that your baby's ugly, right?

They're all going to tell you you have a beautiful baby.

But if you ask them, hey, would you actually adopt the baby?

They're like, oh, no.

It's a totally different ask.

So I think it's really important that you're selling this stuff before the product.

When the product comes online, you should have a whole bunch of people that you've already talked to and are all lined up saying, they've already nodded their heads and said, yeah, I would pay you and I would pay you that much money for this product if you can build it.

You can come back and be like, hey, here it is, all built.

And they won't all buy it, but some healthy percentage should.

And that's, so as soon as the thing comes online, you can basically start selling it in its most basic form.