The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Back to feedPost
42% of failed startups built something nobody needed.
That is from one CB Insights analysis of 101 founder post-mortems.
Not bad code. Not bad luck. Nobody needed it.
If you are building an AI product...this is the cheapest fix you will ever make...
Ask these 5 questions BEFORE you build...
1. Who exactly has this problem?
Everyone is not an answer. Name a job title.
2. How are they solving it today?
If they are not solving it at all, it may not hurt enough.
3. What does it cost them?
Hours, money or missed deals. Get a number.
4. Would they pay for a fix this month?
Ask for a pre-order or a pilot, not a compliment.
5. Who have you talked to this week?
Aim for 5 real conversations before writing a line of code.
Copy-paste prompt to prepare your interviews:
I am building [product] for [job title]. Write 10 customer interview questions that uncover how they solve [problem] today, what it costs them, and what they have already paid for. No leading questions.
Compliments do not validate a product.
Payments and pilots do.
Save this before your next build sprint.
Follow me to meet again
Daily learn with me (Maryam Tehsin)
Such an important reminder! 👏 It's easy to focus on building a product, but understanding the customer's real problem should always come first. Real feedback is worth more than compliments!
Such a valuable reminder! 👏 Talking to real customers before building can save so much time and money. Solving a real problem should always come first!
ever you applied it?
Not yet, but I found it a valuable insight🙌
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
Related posts
Most AI builds break at the wiring, not the model: no retries, no log of what the model actually did, and no clear line for what the agent may do without a human.
I build that layer. My own products run on it -- an ordering platform where an AI agent handles real orders, and a coding agent that writes no file until someone approves the change.
The question worth answering first is what your agent should never decide on its own.
For me the line is anything irreversible or anything that costs money: refunds, deleting data, messaging customers in bulk. Below that line the agent can act, as long as every tool call is logged with its input and result, so you can replay what it actually did. The detail I'd...
Clean and confident work! The green gradient with the mark feels very modern for fintech - trustworthy but not boring. The app screens look really polished. Curious how you landed on this mark, does it represent growth / movement?
📱 The whole employee experience, right on the phone. Scheduling that goes wherever the team goes.
Amazing work