Marketing comes first: why “build it and they will come" actually can work
The classic startup mistake: A founder (often an engineer) gets excited about an idea and immediately starts building. She's scratching her own itch, convinced others will share her enthusiasm. Launch day arrives and... crickets.
"But this is so cool," she thinks, puzzled by the silence.
This pattern isn't limited to startups. Even established companies fall into the trap of building products they assume customers want, only to face disappointing sales. The "build it and they will come" approach is business on hard mode.
But there's a way to make it work: do the marketing first.
Yes, marketing – but not the advertising and promotion kind. I'm talking about truly understanding your market. This means:
Having deep conversations with potential customers
Learning their problems and desires
Earning their attention and trust
Building a genuine community
When you take this approach, you're positioned to create something people actually want because you're building FOR them. You understand their problems intimately and know there's a large enough market to support your product.
Instead of satisfying just your own itch, you're serving a market you know inside and out. This makes the promotional side of marketing infinitely easier. You're no longer making a hard sell – you're telling a story about why your product matters to them. They see their problems resolved through your solution. You become the painkiller they've been searching for.
Getting there requires effort. You need to:
Build an audience that cares about your mission
Study what drives them
Nurture these relationships
Create a community (which can take many forms)
THEN produce and deliver your solution
Remember Steve Jobs' insight: "People would never have said they needed an iPhone." Your customers know their problems, but they might not know the solution. The magic happens when you combine intentional listening with your unique capabilities to deliver what they truly need.
This is the secret: Start with marketing, and they'll come when you build it – because you made it for THEM.
