Farrukh Butt

I try really hard to be the kind of founder that listens to users. The whole idea of building something people want is that you're supposed to be paying attention to them, not building in a vacuum.

But every time I've followed the loudest requests, I've ended up building things almost nobody else wanted. One vocal customer asks for a feature, it feels urgent because they're right in front of me, and three weeks later it's sitting there barely used.

I was rereading parts of The Mom Test, and it reminded me how easy it is to mistake politeness for validation.

Someone says the idea sounds useful, they like the direction, they would definitely try it, and maybe they even suggest a few features. It feels like progress, but sometimes they are just being nice.

The dangerous part is that polite feedback does not feel negative. It gives you just enough confidence to keep building without proving whether the problem is actually painful.

I think the harder skill is learning to ignore compliments and look for behavior instead.

I spent nearly four years on one idea before I finally pivoted to what I'm building now (@Basedash: AI data analyst). What mostly bothers me isn't that I was wrong, it's that I still can't tell you the exact signal that should've made me quit two years earlier.

At the time everything felt like progress. We had users, we had encouraging conversations, we had the occasional good week that convinced me the next one would be better. None of it was a clear "stop."