Hey friends 👋
Every Friday at noon Pacific, I go live to answer your startup questions and share what I’ve seen work (and not work) in the earliest, most chaotic stages of building a company.
This week, Cameron and I were back at ConnectLabs, where we talked about one of the hardest — and most fumbled — parts of the founder journey:
When to build, when to charge, and how to know the difference.
Most founders get at least one of these wrong:
They build too much before validating anything
They wait too long to ask for money
They skip the whole “MVP” part and jump straight to “app”
They underprice because they’re afraid of scaring people off
Or worse — they get interest and mistake it for intent
The best signal you can get isn’t a like, or a comment, or a survey response. It’s someone pulling out their wallet. Even if it’s just a deposit. Even if it’s a “yes” to a pre-order form you made in 20 minutes.
We unpacked:
What to do when you’re not sure what to charge
The difference between a pre-order and a promise
Why launching too early is better than launching too late
The psychology of waitlists, deposits, and tiered pricing
And how to test demand before you’ve written a single line of code
If any of this feels familiar — if you’re stuck waiting for something to feel more “ready” — I hope this gives you permission to move.
Join the group Fridays at noon Pacific in the Substack app for live office hours. You bring the questions. We’ll bring the spice.
And if you want to come hang in person, join us at ConnectLabs starting around 11:45.
See you out there,
—jdm
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