🤖 #21: Vivian's Deeptech Insider: Will They Pay for It? Here’s How to Find Out

Hello and welcome to #21 edition of the fortnightly Vivian’s Deeptech Insider.

In our last newsletter, we dove into Problem-First Storytelling. Now that you've crafted the right emotional messaging, let's focus on how to secure your first Champions—this is achieved through market validation. This step is a crucial component of the Champion series in our 4Cs framework:

1. Complexity → Clarity
   Founders need to translate complex technical problems into business challenges that resonate with non-technical stakeholders. I’ll help you clearly communicate the significance of your solution, making sure everyone understands the problem you’re solving and why it matters.

2. Clarity → Champions
   It’s about more than identifying a problem—it’s about pinpointing your early adopters, refining market positioning, and clearly articulating the problem and customer definition to showcase potential to investors.

3. Champions → Communication
   Deeptech products can be hard to explain. I’ll help translate technical milestones into core features, benefits, and customer impact, ensuring they’re clear and compelling to investors and customers alike.

4. Communication → Clients
   I’ll provide guidance on tracking progress, communicating growth metrics, and updating stakeholders on the product's evolution to demonstrate how scientific advancements translate into tangible value.

Bringing a product to market is not just about having a great idea—it’s about ensuring that idea solves real problems and that people are willing to pay for it. Many startups struggle because they focus on building before validating. To avoid this, it’s essential to use structured frameworks that guide you in understanding customer needs, refining your product-market fit, and ensuring sustainable growth.

This week, we’re walking through how to do exactly that—turning a rough idea into something people genuinely want, using simple validation steps and early feedback loops.

The Blueprint for Market Validation

To build something people truly want, you need to test, refine, and validate continuously. It’s not enough to assume there’s demand—you need proof. Here’s how you can systematically validate your product idea:

Step 1. Market Validation: JTBD + 10-100-1000 Approach

A structured validation process helps ensure your product idea aligns with real market needs before investing heavily in development. The 10-100-1000 approach breaks this down into three critical phases:

• Start Small (10 interviews): Begin by having in-depth conversations with early adopters. Your goal is to validate whether the problem you think exists is actually a significant pain point for them. Listen for strong emotional reactions—this is a sign that the problem is real and urgent.

• Expand (100 conversations): Once you confirm the problem exists, widen your sample. Conduct broader customer discovery efforts to uncover recurring patterns, potential objections, and opportunities for differentiation. This phase helps refine your messaging and value proposition.

• Test Demand (1000 leads): Next, gauge real-world interest by collecting pre-orders, email signups, or waitlist registrations. This step confirms whether people are willing to take action and invest in your solution.

By following this systematic approach, you de-risk your investment and avoid building something no one wants.

Step 2. Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD) for Continuous Refinement

Understanding why customers “hire” your product can reveal powerful insights into how you should position and improve it. The Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD) framework helps dissect customer motivation by identifying three types of jobs:

• Functional Jobs: What core task does your product help them accomplish? This is the practical reason they use your solution.

• Emotional Jobs: What frustration or pain does it eliminate? Customers often buy emotionally and justify their decision logically.

• Social Jobs: How does your product impact their status, perception, or reputation? Some products succeed because they signal something valuable to others.

🔹 Framework: The Demand-Side Sales 101 Method → Rather than focusing solely on product features, this approach emphasises understanding the customer’s buying journey. What problem triggered them to look for a solution? What hesitations do they have? What alternative solutions are they considering? Answering these questions ensures that your product aligns with real-world needs, making it easier to market and sell.

Step 3. Problem-Solution Fit → Product-Market Fit

It’s one thing for people to say they love your idea. It’s another for them to pay for it, use it, and tell others about it.

In the early days, your job is to make sure you’ve got problem-solution fit. Do people see the problem clearly? Do they want a solution badly enough to take action?

Once they start using your product, paying for it, and coming back? That’s product-market fit. It’s when growth starts to feel less like a grind and more like a pull.

Just remember: compliments don’t pay the bills. Commitments do. Pre-orders, signups, and early sales are stronger indicators of real demand.

Step 4. Growth Loops: Find Your Flywheel

Sustainable growth doesn’t come from one-off wins—it comes from repeatable traction channels. Instead of relying on linear customer acquisition methods, focus on building growth loops that create ongoing momentum.

Examples of strong growth loops include:

• Organic referrals: Happy users telling friends

• Content-driven lead generation: Content that attracts the right audience

• Community engagement: A small community that loves what you’re building

• Paid acquisition: Once you validate unit economics (customer lifetime value vs. acquisition cost), paid advertising can accelerate growth.

Look for what’s repeatable—and lean into it.

Your Roadmap to Validation

You don’t need to have it all figured out from day one. But you do need to validate early and often. The more you learn upfront, the less you’ll waste on assumptions later.

So if you’ve got a product idea in the works, start validating now. The best time to test was yesterday. The second-best time? Today.

Here’s to building things people actually want,
Vivian

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Jobs with Deeptech investors:

• Healthcare Investor - Andreessen Horowitz (VC), USA

• Associate - Entrepreneurs First (VC), San Francisco, USA

• Investment Associate - Northzone (VC), New York, USA

• Health Associate - 25Madison (VC), New York or Nashville, USA

• Summer MBA Associate - MetaProp (VC), New York, USA

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