If I had to pick one mistake I’ve seen over and over again in my career, both in my own projects and in the companies I’ve worked with, it’s this: building something without really understanding who it’s for.

I’ve done it more times than I can count. Built products, launched ideas, even invested time and money into things that I thought people wanted. Only to realise later that nobody actually cared. And trust me, there’s no worse feeling than pouring your heart into something and hearing crickets when you launch it.

The rookie mistake

When I started building products, I believed that a good idea was enough. I thought if something sounded smart or looked good, people would naturally see its value. I’d come up with an idea, design it, develop it, and only then start thinking about the people who were supposed to use it.

And that’s where everything fell apart.

Because without understanding the audience, their problems, their pain points, their habits, you’re basically building blind. You’re guessing. And guessing is expensive.

Over the years, I’ve seen the same mistake repeated by clients, founders, and teams with huge budgets. They start with a vision, not validation. They build what they want to exist, not what the audience needs. And then they spend months or years trying to convince people to care.

But people don’t care about your idea. They care about their problems.

Lessons learned

After a few painful failures, I started to realise something simple but powerful: you should never build first and ask later. You need to validate before you even start.

That means testing ideas fast, talking to real users, and iterating before you spend a single penny on development. It’s not about being cautious. It’s about being smart. Every hour you spend validating saves you ten hours of fixing later.

I’ve learned that the fastest way to find product-market fit isn’t through luck or genius. It’s through iteration. You test, adjust, test again, and repeat until people start pulling the product from your hands instead of you pushing it into theirs.

And when that happens, you feel it. Suddenly, people understand your product. They share it, talk about it, use it. That’s the moment you know you’re onto something real.

A simple truth

If I could go back in time and give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: don’t build until you know.

Know your audience. Know their problems better than they do. Know what they actually care about, what they’re willing to pay for, and what frustrates them so much that they’d do anything to fix it.

Everything else, design, features, branding, comes after that.

The takeaway

Before you build anything, validate it. Don’t just assume, test. Don’t just think, ask. Iterate, learn, and adjust until you see traction. Then, and only then, start building and scaling.

Because without a clear audience and a clear problem, even the best product is just a beautiful waste of time.