Find your idea & build the brand
Validating demand before inventory
Prove people will pay before you place a PO.
How many pre-orders or sign-ups actually prove people will pay, versus just being polite interest?
Clicks and "interested" DMs are free to give and mean almost nothing - the real signal is money or a firm written commitment changing hands before ...
How do I run a landing page or waitlist test properly before I spend money on inventory?
Build one page with a real value proposition, real product photos (even mocked-up ones), a price, and a clear CTA like "Reserve yours" or "Join the...
Should I run a crowdfunding or pre-order campaign to validate demand, and does that even work for Indian founders?
Kickstarter itself is largely closed to Indian founders raising in INR, so most Indian D2C brands use local platforms like Fueladream or Catapooolt...
How do I do customer interviews without everyone just telling me what I want to hear?
Ask about their past behaviour, not their future intentions - "walk me through the last time you bought [category]" beats "would you buy this?" eve...
Can I dropship or run ads on a 'coming soon' page to test a product before I commit to a real manufacturing PO?
Yes - this is the cheapest legitimate way to test demand: source a small sample or even just supplier images, run 5-10 ad creative variants on Meta...
How do I know if my D2C brand has actually reached product-market fit, or if I'm just imagining it from a few good sales days?
Run the Sean Ellis 40% test on real repeat buyers, not first-time purchasers: ask "how would you feel if you could no longer buy [product]?" and se...
Related in Starting Up
Not D2C-specific, so it lives in our founder hub. Same engine, different corner.
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