How Does Rob Snyder Test Who Has Pull?

Rob Snyder tests who has pull before a product exists. He does not sell to a category such as mid-market private equity. He sells to one person inside it who is stuck on a specific job. A notebook of product ideas, including an idea for an API for APIs, all sounds unhinged, so the pitch alone never tells him which idea is good. He stakes a claim that one specific person is stuck, talks to them, and watches whether they try to buy even before a product exists.

Ten customer interviews of 30 minutes on Zoom would not be enough if a founder's life depended on finding the buyer. The alternative is to go all out and go in person. Friends of his have done the job with a potential customer to feel the demand firsthand. They have built something they would buy themselves, or embedded with people to find the moment someone will act because the person is trying to do something and is stuck.