Article · about 10 min read

Market Pull (Startup Handbook)

Julian Shapiro · julian.com Free Intermediate

Shapiro's method, asking 100 people representative of your guessed audience whether they'd put down a cash deposit, is a fast, concrete way to test a narrow ICP hypothesis before you build. It forces you to define the audience precisely enough to actually go find 100 of them, which is half the exercise. Good for founders who keep testing their idea on friends instead of strangers who match the profile.

• Test willingness to pay a real deposit, not just interest, with a defined group of prospects.
• You have to define your audience specifically enough to be able to find 100 of them, that alone is clarifying.
• Low willingness to commit money is a signal to narrow or change the target, not to lower the price.