You're building the wrong thing
The painful truth about customer discovery — and how to fix it
Why Founders Build Things Nobody Wants
I’ve reviewed thousands of pitch decks. The pattern is always the same.
Founders build something. Launch it. Nobody uses it. Pivot. Repeat.
90% of startups fail. Not because of bad code. Because founders build what they think customers want instead of what customers actually need.
The Real Problem
We all know we should talk to customers before building. The Mom Test taught us the right questions.
But here’s what actually happens:
You schedule interviews. They cancel. You send surveys. You get 12 responses from your friends. You ask mom. They say “I’d buy that!” They never do.
The problem isn’t that founders don’t care. The problem is customer discovery is painful.
Why It’s Broken
You need 50-100 conversations to see real patterns. That means hundreds of cold messages. Begging for calls. Dealing with no-shows.
Most founders give up after 5-10 conversations. Then they guess. Then they build the wrong thing.
What Actually Works
Stop asking “Would you use this?” Everyone says yes.
Start asking “Tell me about the last time you tried to solve this problem.”
Past behavior predicts future behavior. But who has time to ask 100 people?
That’s why we built Solavery.
When someone signs up on your landing page, they chat for 60 seconds with Sol Avery — an AI trained in Mom Test methodology. She uncovers real pain points, past behavior, and willingness to pay. You wake up to insights, not just emails.
100 signups = 100 customer interviews. Zero effort.
I totally agree to the problem statement and I love your chat bot idea but in my experience the real insights come when the customer interview turns into a conversation - meaning 3-5 follow up questions after my initial interview question. That’s where the real pain shows and I can begin to see patterns. What’s your experience and how are you planning to incorporate it?