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Why most digital products fail (10 brutal mistakes)
Why most digital products fail (10 brutal mistakes)
Why most digital products fail (10 brutal mistakes)
Lessons
This is something I really wish someone had told me sooner, back when I was a kid full of energy, no responsibilities, and trying to hustle as much as I could on the side.
Believe it or not, this is not my first attempt to build something for myself. As far back as I can remember, I always dreamed of owning my own business and building my own products.
The first product I actually built was called pickideas.com. I built it in 2014, after I came back from the US from my student travel experience. If you are curious, I still have the promo video listed on my old YouTube channel.
Haha, this brings back so many memories. I remember it so clearly. I was in my parents’ living room when I came up with the idea, and I was ridiculously excited. I genuinely thought I was going to be the next Facebook. In my mind, Mark Zuckerberg was toast, because I had an idea so good it would put Facebook to shame.
But as you are reading this, you probably already figured out that was not the case. And that is exactly why I want to share with you the 10 mistakes that kill most digital products.
1. Falling in love with the idea instead of the problem
This is the most dangerous mistake and, believe it or not, the most common one.
Just like I did with PickIdeas back in the day, a lot of people fall in love with their own idea. When I first started, I thought my idea was absolutely amazing. I did not think about what problem it was solving or whether there was even a real problem to solve. I just had the idea and fell in love with it.
I was like, “Imagine how cool this thing will be.”
I was so in love with it that I spent all my hard-earned money from working as a busboy in New York for six months just to build it. I think I spent around 5–7K, which back then was a ton of money. But remember, I thought I was going to be the next Facebook, so this felt like peanuts compared to my “potential.”
Long behold, because I was not providing any real value, the product tanked like a rock at the bottom of the sea the moment I launched it.
2. Building before validating real demand
This one will save you the most time and money.
Just like almost everyone building their first digital product, I was super secretive about my “incredible idea.” Every time someone asked me what I was building, I tried to be as vague and abstract as possible so they would not steal it.
The reality is this: the chance of you having a truly unique idea is extremely low. There are around 8.2 billion people on this planet. For you to have an idea that nobody else has is roughly a 1 in 8 billion chance. That is about a 0.0000000125% chance. To put that into perspective, winning the lottery is about 27 times easier.
The biggest mistake is staying quiet and going straight into building.
What you should do instead is the exact opposite. Talk about your idea with as many people as possible. See what they think. See if they would actually use it or buy it.
The fastest way to do this is by asking people directly or creating a simple landing page and allowing people to subscribe. If someone is willing to give you their email or contact details, that means there is at least some level of interest.
3. Asking the wrong validation questions
This ties in perfectly with the previous point.
After you start validating demand, you should ask questions to understand how people think, what features they would want, and how they would use the product. This is where you start shaping the idea.
The problem is that most people, just like I did, ask the wrong questions.
When you are in love with your idea, it is very hard to let it go. So instead of validating properly, you end up asking questions that confirm your assumptions.
For example, questions like:
“Imagine you had this app that gives you access to the top 100 companies in the world and lets you sell your ideas to them. Would you use it?”
Of course people will say yes. Who would not?
A much better way to ask questions is something like:
“When you have an idea for a business or an app, what is the first thing you do?”
This helps you understand real behavior instead of hypothetical excitement.
A book I highly recommend on this topic is The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick.
4. Confusing positive feedback with real commitment
This is another massive mistake, and even big companies make it.
During my consultancy days, this was one of the biggest issues I helped fix. Many companies were smart enough to avoid the first three mistakes, but they failed badly at this one.
Just because someone says they love your idea does not mean they are willing to pay for it.
We all want a five-bedroom villa with a pool and a supercar in front of it. That does not mean we can afford it or are willing to pay for it.
I have seen companies invest huge amounts of money in market research, “validating” their idea with thousands of users. Then I would ask one simple question:
“Did any of these users commit to buying it?”
Ninety-nine percent of the time, the answer was no.
In that case, your validated idea is worth as much as a peanut.
If users are not willing to pay upfront, give you their card details, or make some form of real commitment, your idea is probably a nice-to-have, not a must-have.
There is a saying in business: build a painkiller, not a vitamin.
People will pay almost anything to remove pain. But they are much less likely to pay for something that might help them someday.
Think about it. If you have a terrible headache and I tell you I have a pill that will make it go away instantly for $50, you would probably buy it. But if I tell you to take a supplement for six months at $20 per month to maybe reduce headaches, you would likely pass.
When you validate an idea, make sure people actually commit.
5. Overbuilding the first version or shipping too late
This is one almost every startup fails at.
In over 15 years of consultancy, I think I have only seen one client do this right.
The biggest mistake is launching a product with 100 features. Those features are not driven by users. They are driven by your own bias or your team’s assumptions.
Your first version should be an MVP, a minimum viable product. In simple terms, it should have one or two features that solve one real problem.
Anything more than that risks two things. You either end up with a bloated product that you later need to strip down, which is a nightmare, or you take so long to build that all initial interest fades away.
I have worked with companies that took one to two years to ship their MVP and then wondered why nobody cared.
Ship fast. Get users involved. Learn how they actually use the product. Let them tell you what to build next.
6. Designing for yourself instead of the user
This one comes up constantly.
I cannot tell you how many times a founder stood behind me, telling me exactly where buttons should go, what colors to use, and how flows should work.
They were designing the product for themselves, not for their customers.
If you want an art piece for your ego, fine. But if you want a successful product, you need to listen to your users.
As a founder, you should trust your designer. Designers use user feedback, analytics, and testing to inform decisions. Just because something feels logical to you does not mean it works for everyone.
A simple example is the close button in an app. Should it be on the left or the right? There is no universal right answer. Mac users are used to the left. Windows users are used to the right.
So who is right? The users are.
Stop assuming. Look at the data.
7. Ignoring distribution and growth until after launch
This one hurts me the most because it is the mistake that cost me the most time and money.
I love building things. I always believed that if you built a good product, success would follow.
I was completely wrong.
The market is extremely crowded. If you do not know how to market your product or create hype around it, it will die, no matter how good it is.
I have killed more ideas because of this than anything else. I built products years before the market was ready or before I understood distribution. I lost months and tens of thousands of dollars simply because I had no idea how to market them.
If you are a builder like me and you do not know how to do this, pay someone or partner with someone who does. Distribution is not optional.
Before writing a single line of code, start talking about what you are building. Build anticipation. Think about how people will discover it.
8. Pricing emotionally instead of strategically
Pricing based on feelings instead of data is a huge mistake.
We all think our thing is special. Our product, our work, our idea. That is normal.
But your “perfect” is not mine.
When you price based on emotion, you usually overprice. You tell yourself you have more features, so the price is justified.
Just because you believe the price is justified does not mean people will pay it.
Always analyze the market and use data to inform pricing decisions.
9. Lacking clear positioning and a specific audience
This is one of my favorite mistakes, and one I still fall into sometimes.
Many founders assume their product is for everyone. It never is.
Even something like Uber Eats does not target everyone. Their core audience is very specific.
Your product also needs a clearly defined audience. Age, location, income level. You cannot skip this.
Not everyone wants to build digital products. Just because you and I do does not mean everyone else does.
10. Treating launch as the finish line instead of the starting point
This is where almost every client I worked with failed.
People think that once a product launches, they can relax. In reality, launch is the starting line.
A product is a living thing. It needs constant feedback, iteration, and improvement. You need to analyze usage data, run interviews, and keep optimizing.
This never ends.
Think of the Porsche 911. At first glance, it looks like it never changes. But over time, everything has evolved, from dimensions to details. That is why it is still relevant.
Small improvements add up.
Thanks for reading. I hope these 10 mistakes help you avoid years of pain and save you a lot of money.
If you found this useful, feel free to share it so others can avoid these mistakes too. My mission is to help as many people as possible reach financial independence, and avoiding costly mistakes is a big part of that.
Have an amazing day, and I will see you in the next blog post.
This is something I really wish someone had told me sooner, back when I was a kid full of energy, no responsibilities, and trying to hustle as much as I could on the side.
Believe it or not, this is not my first attempt to build something for myself. As far back as I can remember, I always dreamed of owning my own business and building my own products.
The first product I actually built was called pickideas.com. I built it in 2014, after I came back from the US from my student travel experience. If you are curious, I still have the promo video listed on my old YouTube channel.
Haha, this brings back so many memories. I remember it so clearly. I was in my parents’ living room when I came up with the idea, and I was ridiculously excited. I genuinely thought I was going to be the next Facebook. In my mind, Mark Zuckerberg was toast, because I had an idea so good it would put Facebook to shame.
But as you are reading this, you probably already figured out that was not the case. And that is exactly why I want to share with you the 10 mistakes that kill most digital products.
1. Falling in love with the idea instead of the problem
This is the most dangerous mistake and, believe it or not, the most common one.
Just like I did with PickIdeas back in the day, a lot of people fall in love with their own idea. When I first started, I thought my idea was absolutely amazing. I did not think about what problem it was solving or whether there was even a real problem to solve. I just had the idea and fell in love with it.
I was like, “Imagine how cool this thing will be.”
I was so in love with it that I spent all my hard-earned money from working as a busboy in New York for six months just to build it. I think I spent around 5–7K, which back then was a ton of money. But remember, I thought I was going to be the next Facebook, so this felt like peanuts compared to my “potential.”
Long behold, because I was not providing any real value, the product tanked like a rock at the bottom of the sea the moment I launched it.
2. Building before validating real demand
This one will save you the most time and money.
Just like almost everyone building their first digital product, I was super secretive about my “incredible idea.” Every time someone asked me what I was building, I tried to be as vague and abstract as possible so they would not steal it.
The reality is this: the chance of you having a truly unique idea is extremely low. There are around 8.2 billion people on this planet. For you to have an idea that nobody else has is roughly a 1 in 8 billion chance. That is about a 0.0000000125% chance. To put that into perspective, winning the lottery is about 27 times easier.
The biggest mistake is staying quiet and going straight into building.
What you should do instead is the exact opposite. Talk about your idea with as many people as possible. See what they think. See if they would actually use it or buy it.
The fastest way to do this is by asking people directly or creating a simple landing page and allowing people to subscribe. If someone is willing to give you their email or contact details, that means there is at least some level of interest.
3. Asking the wrong validation questions
This ties in perfectly with the previous point.
After you start validating demand, you should ask questions to understand how people think, what features they would want, and how they would use the product. This is where you start shaping the idea.
The problem is that most people, just like I did, ask the wrong questions.
When you are in love with your idea, it is very hard to let it go. So instead of validating properly, you end up asking questions that confirm your assumptions.
For example, questions like:
“Imagine you had this app that gives you access to the top 100 companies in the world and lets you sell your ideas to them. Would you use it?”
Of course people will say yes. Who would not?
A much better way to ask questions is something like:
“When you have an idea for a business or an app, what is the first thing you do?”
This helps you understand real behavior instead of hypothetical excitement.
A book I highly recommend on this topic is The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick.
4. Confusing positive feedback with real commitment
This is another massive mistake, and even big companies make it.
During my consultancy days, this was one of the biggest issues I helped fix. Many companies were smart enough to avoid the first three mistakes, but they failed badly at this one.
Just because someone says they love your idea does not mean they are willing to pay for it.
We all want a five-bedroom villa with a pool and a supercar in front of it. That does not mean we can afford it or are willing to pay for it.
I have seen companies invest huge amounts of money in market research, “validating” their idea with thousands of users. Then I would ask one simple question:
“Did any of these users commit to buying it?”
Ninety-nine percent of the time, the answer was no.
In that case, your validated idea is worth as much as a peanut.
If users are not willing to pay upfront, give you their card details, or make some form of real commitment, your idea is probably a nice-to-have, not a must-have.
There is a saying in business: build a painkiller, not a vitamin.
People will pay almost anything to remove pain. But they are much less likely to pay for something that might help them someday.
Think about it. If you have a terrible headache and I tell you I have a pill that will make it go away instantly for $50, you would probably buy it. But if I tell you to take a supplement for six months at $20 per month to maybe reduce headaches, you would likely pass.
When you validate an idea, make sure people actually commit.
5. Overbuilding the first version or shipping too late
This is one almost every startup fails at.
In over 15 years of consultancy, I think I have only seen one client do this right.
The biggest mistake is launching a product with 100 features. Those features are not driven by users. They are driven by your own bias or your team’s assumptions.
Your first version should be an MVP, a minimum viable product. In simple terms, it should have one or two features that solve one real problem.
Anything more than that risks two things. You either end up with a bloated product that you later need to strip down, which is a nightmare, or you take so long to build that all initial interest fades away.
I have worked with companies that took one to two years to ship their MVP and then wondered why nobody cared.
Ship fast. Get users involved. Learn how they actually use the product. Let them tell you what to build next.
6. Designing for yourself instead of the user
This one comes up constantly.
I cannot tell you how many times a founder stood behind me, telling me exactly where buttons should go, what colors to use, and how flows should work.
They were designing the product for themselves, not for their customers.
If you want an art piece for your ego, fine. But if you want a successful product, you need to listen to your users.
As a founder, you should trust your designer. Designers use user feedback, analytics, and testing to inform decisions. Just because something feels logical to you does not mean it works for everyone.
A simple example is the close button in an app. Should it be on the left or the right? There is no universal right answer. Mac users are used to the left. Windows users are used to the right.
So who is right? The users are.
Stop assuming. Look at the data.
7. Ignoring distribution and growth until after launch
This one hurts me the most because it is the mistake that cost me the most time and money.
I love building things. I always believed that if you built a good product, success would follow.
I was completely wrong.
The market is extremely crowded. If you do not know how to market your product or create hype around it, it will die, no matter how good it is.
I have killed more ideas because of this than anything else. I built products years before the market was ready or before I understood distribution. I lost months and tens of thousands of dollars simply because I had no idea how to market them.
If you are a builder like me and you do not know how to do this, pay someone or partner with someone who does. Distribution is not optional.
Before writing a single line of code, start talking about what you are building. Build anticipation. Think about how people will discover it.
8. Pricing emotionally instead of strategically
Pricing based on feelings instead of data is a huge mistake.
We all think our thing is special. Our product, our work, our idea. That is normal.
But your “perfect” is not mine.
When you price based on emotion, you usually overprice. You tell yourself you have more features, so the price is justified.
Just because you believe the price is justified does not mean people will pay it.
Always analyze the market and use data to inform pricing decisions.
9. Lacking clear positioning and a specific audience
This is one of my favorite mistakes, and one I still fall into sometimes.
Many founders assume their product is for everyone. It never is.
Even something like Uber Eats does not target everyone. Their core audience is very specific.
Your product also needs a clearly defined audience. Age, location, income level. You cannot skip this.
Not everyone wants to build digital products. Just because you and I do does not mean everyone else does.
10. Treating launch as the finish line instead of the starting point
This is where almost every client I worked with failed.
People think that once a product launches, they can relax. In reality, launch is the starting line.
A product is a living thing. It needs constant feedback, iteration, and improvement. You need to analyze usage data, run interviews, and keep optimizing.
This never ends.
Think of the Porsche 911. At first glance, it looks like it never changes. But over time, everything has evolved, from dimensions to details. That is why it is still relevant.
Small improvements add up.
Thanks for reading. I hope these 10 mistakes help you avoid years of pain and save you a lot of money.
If you found this useful, feel free to share it so others can avoid these mistakes too. My mission is to help as many people as possible reach financial independence, and avoiding costly mistakes is a big part of that.
Have an amazing day, and I will see you in the next blog post.
This is something I really wish someone had told me sooner, back when I was a kid full of energy, no responsibilities, and trying to hustle as much as I could on the side.
Believe it or not, this is not my first attempt to build something for myself. As far back as I can remember, I always dreamed of owning my own business and building my own products.
The first product I actually built was called pickideas.com. I built it in 2014, after I came back from the US from my student travel experience. If you are curious, I still have the promo video listed on my old YouTube channel.
Haha, this brings back so many memories. I remember it so clearly. I was in my parents’ living room when I came up with the idea, and I was ridiculously excited. I genuinely thought I was going to be the next Facebook. In my mind, Mark Zuckerberg was toast, because I had an idea so good it would put Facebook to shame.
But as you are reading this, you probably already figured out that was not the case. And that is exactly why I want to share with you the 10 mistakes that kill most digital products.
1. Falling in love with the idea instead of the problem
This is the most dangerous mistake and, believe it or not, the most common one.
Just like I did with PickIdeas back in the day, a lot of people fall in love with their own idea. When I first started, I thought my idea was absolutely amazing. I did not think about what problem it was solving or whether there was even a real problem to solve. I just had the idea and fell in love with it.
I was like, “Imagine how cool this thing will be.”
I was so in love with it that I spent all my hard-earned money from working as a busboy in New York for six months just to build it. I think I spent around 5–7K, which back then was a ton of money. But remember, I thought I was going to be the next Facebook, so this felt like peanuts compared to my “potential.”
Long behold, because I was not providing any real value, the product tanked like a rock at the bottom of the sea the moment I launched it.
2. Building before validating real demand
This one will save you the most time and money.
Just like almost everyone building their first digital product, I was super secretive about my “incredible idea.” Every time someone asked me what I was building, I tried to be as vague and abstract as possible so they would not steal it.
The reality is this: the chance of you having a truly unique idea is extremely low. There are around 8.2 billion people on this planet. For you to have an idea that nobody else has is roughly a 1 in 8 billion chance. That is about a 0.0000000125% chance. To put that into perspective, winning the lottery is about 27 times easier.
The biggest mistake is staying quiet and going straight into building.
What you should do instead is the exact opposite. Talk about your idea with as many people as possible. See what they think. See if they would actually use it or buy it.
The fastest way to do this is by asking people directly or creating a simple landing page and allowing people to subscribe. If someone is willing to give you their email or contact details, that means there is at least some level of interest.
3. Asking the wrong validation questions
This ties in perfectly with the previous point.
After you start validating demand, you should ask questions to understand how people think, what features they would want, and how they would use the product. This is where you start shaping the idea.
The problem is that most people, just like I did, ask the wrong questions.
When you are in love with your idea, it is very hard to let it go. So instead of validating properly, you end up asking questions that confirm your assumptions.
For example, questions like:
“Imagine you had this app that gives you access to the top 100 companies in the world and lets you sell your ideas to them. Would you use it?”
Of course people will say yes. Who would not?
A much better way to ask questions is something like:
“When you have an idea for a business or an app, what is the first thing you do?”
This helps you understand real behavior instead of hypothetical excitement.
A book I highly recommend on this topic is The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick.
4. Confusing positive feedback with real commitment
This is another massive mistake, and even big companies make it.
During my consultancy days, this was one of the biggest issues I helped fix. Many companies were smart enough to avoid the first three mistakes, but they failed badly at this one.
Just because someone says they love your idea does not mean they are willing to pay for it.
We all want a five-bedroom villa with a pool and a supercar in front of it. That does not mean we can afford it or are willing to pay for it.
I have seen companies invest huge amounts of money in market research, “validating” their idea with thousands of users. Then I would ask one simple question:
“Did any of these users commit to buying it?”
Ninety-nine percent of the time, the answer was no.
In that case, your validated idea is worth as much as a peanut.
If users are not willing to pay upfront, give you their card details, or make some form of real commitment, your idea is probably a nice-to-have, not a must-have.
There is a saying in business: build a painkiller, not a vitamin.
People will pay almost anything to remove pain. But they are much less likely to pay for something that might help them someday.
Think about it. If you have a terrible headache and I tell you I have a pill that will make it go away instantly for $50, you would probably buy it. But if I tell you to take a supplement for six months at $20 per month to maybe reduce headaches, you would likely pass.
When you validate an idea, make sure people actually commit.
5. Overbuilding the first version or shipping too late
This is one almost every startup fails at.
In over 15 years of consultancy, I think I have only seen one client do this right.
The biggest mistake is launching a product with 100 features. Those features are not driven by users. They are driven by your own bias or your team’s assumptions.
Your first version should be an MVP, a minimum viable product. In simple terms, it should have one or two features that solve one real problem.
Anything more than that risks two things. You either end up with a bloated product that you later need to strip down, which is a nightmare, or you take so long to build that all initial interest fades away.
I have worked with companies that took one to two years to ship their MVP and then wondered why nobody cared.
Ship fast. Get users involved. Learn how they actually use the product. Let them tell you what to build next.
6. Designing for yourself instead of the user
This one comes up constantly.
I cannot tell you how many times a founder stood behind me, telling me exactly where buttons should go, what colors to use, and how flows should work.
They were designing the product for themselves, not for their customers.
If you want an art piece for your ego, fine. But if you want a successful product, you need to listen to your users.
As a founder, you should trust your designer. Designers use user feedback, analytics, and testing to inform decisions. Just because something feels logical to you does not mean it works for everyone.
A simple example is the close button in an app. Should it be on the left or the right? There is no universal right answer. Mac users are used to the left. Windows users are used to the right.
So who is right? The users are.
Stop assuming. Look at the data.
7. Ignoring distribution and growth until after launch
This one hurts me the most because it is the mistake that cost me the most time and money.
I love building things. I always believed that if you built a good product, success would follow.
I was completely wrong.
The market is extremely crowded. If you do not know how to market your product or create hype around it, it will die, no matter how good it is.
I have killed more ideas because of this than anything else. I built products years before the market was ready or before I understood distribution. I lost months and tens of thousands of dollars simply because I had no idea how to market them.
If you are a builder like me and you do not know how to do this, pay someone or partner with someone who does. Distribution is not optional.
Before writing a single line of code, start talking about what you are building. Build anticipation. Think about how people will discover it.
8. Pricing emotionally instead of strategically
Pricing based on feelings instead of data is a huge mistake.
We all think our thing is special. Our product, our work, our idea. That is normal.
But your “perfect” is not mine.
When you price based on emotion, you usually overprice. You tell yourself you have more features, so the price is justified.
Just because you believe the price is justified does not mean people will pay it.
Always analyze the market and use data to inform pricing decisions.
9. Lacking clear positioning and a specific audience
This is one of my favorite mistakes, and one I still fall into sometimes.
Many founders assume their product is for everyone. It never is.
Even something like Uber Eats does not target everyone. Their core audience is very specific.
Your product also needs a clearly defined audience. Age, location, income level. You cannot skip this.
Not everyone wants to build digital products. Just because you and I do does not mean everyone else does.
10. Treating launch as the finish line instead of the starting point
This is where almost every client I worked with failed.
People think that once a product launches, they can relax. In reality, launch is the starting line.
A product is a living thing. It needs constant feedback, iteration, and improvement. You need to analyze usage data, run interviews, and keep optimizing.
This never ends.
Think of the Porsche 911. At first glance, it looks like it never changes. But over time, everything has evolved, from dimensions to details. That is why it is still relevant.
Small improvements add up.
Thanks for reading. I hope these 10 mistakes help you avoid years of pain and save you a lot of money.
If you found this useful, feel free to share it so others can avoid these mistakes too. My mission is to help as many people as possible reach financial independence, and avoiding costly mistakes is a big part of that.
Have an amazing day, and I will see you in the next blog post.
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