Entrepreneur's Insight: Your Startup Idea is Cool, But Are You Dogfooding?
This is a question I hear most frequently in board meetings and closed shareholder sessions, but it's almost always asked incorrectly:
Is the market big enough?
Is this feature innovative enough?
Can we build an MVP first to test the waters?
These questions themselves aren't foolish—they're quite reasonable.
But they often mask a more brutal and critical reality:
If you weren't the founder, but an ordinary user, would you actually pay for this product?
Not whether you'd praise it as "having potential,"
but whether you'd actually swipe your card.
Why This Startup Approach Almost Always Fails
Most startups begin in a similar way.
The CEO has a flash of insight, sees a "market gap,"
quickly assembles a team, writes a PRD, builds an MVP,
then starts optimizing features, testing pricing, trying to get the first user.
The process is standard and efficient.
But the real problem is that the decision sequence itself is wrong.
In real organizations, when the founding team isn't the actual user of the product, three structural problems emerge.
First, product judgment is replaced by "rational deduction" rather than daily pain points.
Teams discuss "what users should need,"
not "what actually blocks me every day."
Second, incentive mechanisms focus on delivery, not value.
The MVP is delivered, the roadmap is running,
but no one really needs it.
Third, sales and marketing are forced to the front line to patch the product.
When the product itself lacks strong purchase motivation,
the pitch gets heavier, discounts get deeper.
Short-term, you might close deals,
but long-term, it will backfire.
If Founders Aren't Users, the Market Will Eventually Punish You
This isn't abstract theory, but reality verified time and again.
Amazon launched the Fire Phone in 2014.
The team believed it would deepen the Prime ecosystem and strengthen user stickiness,
but not many people inside actually wanted to use this phone daily.
The result was a complete withdrawal within a year,
with losses exceeding $170 million.
The Apple Vision Pro story is more subtle.
It's an engineering and design marvel,
but even today, many senior Apple executives admit:
It's not yet a product "you'd want to wear every day."
The technology is undeniable,
but the usage motivation isn't mature yet.
These companies don't lack resources, talent, or brand.
What they lack is a group of core users who truly can't live without it,
and the founding team itself isn't among them.
Data Has Already Told Us the Answer, We Just Choose to Ignore It
According to Reuters, as of September 2024,
the U.S. averages about 430,000 startup applications per month,
more than 50% growth compared to 2019.
But cross-research from Harvard Business School and CB Insights points out:
Over 60% of startup failures are directly related to "lack of real market demand."
MIT Sloan's research is even more direct:
Products where founders are heavy users themselves (Dogfooding)
show significantly higher survival rates and early revenue growth
compared to other startups.
The reason is actually simple.
You don't need to convince yourself to use it daily,
you naturally use it to solve your own problems.
Three Principles Every Founder Should Remember
If you're thinking about a new product or startup direction,
these three principles are almost never wrong.
First, founders must be the first real paying customers.
Not beta accounts, not free plans,
but people willing to pay.
Second, product value must stand without sales pitch.
If you need to explain why someone should buy,
the problem isn't marketing.
Third, would you dare recommend it with your own credibility?
Not reposting, but telling a friend:
"This really helped me, you should try it."
If you can't answer these three questions,
the market won't answer for you.
Action Guide for Founders and CEOs
If you're a founder or CEO,
you should do three things now.
Do
- Put product usage into your daily routine, no exceptions
- Stop rationalizing current indifference with "future versions will be better"
- Seriously examine: is this a problem you're willing to vouch for?
Don't
- Don't use execution to mask wrong direction
- Don't use marketing budget to validate non-existent demand
- Don't treat the first customer as market validation—you are the validation
Final Reminder
Startups never lack good ideas, or hardworking people.
What's truly scarce are **founders who have a personal sense of pain points,
and are willing to pay the price for solutions.**
The market is becoming faster, more brutal, and more honest.
It no longer rewards products that look cool,
only things that are truly needed.
Before you write the next line of your business plan,
ask yourself one question:
If there were no investors, no grants, no exposure today,
would I still buy this product?
If the answer is no,
that's not an execution problem.
It's time for you to solve a different problem.
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