Mike Maples at Maples Investments observes that the quality of pitches from entrepreneurs get better as you climb the “Hierarchy of Proof.” 1. On the bottom, and least convincing are statements about your “idea.”
2. Next are hypothesis – “I think customers will care about x or y “
3. Better are facts from customers – “We interviewed 30 customers with 20 questions”
4. Even better is “Customer Validation”– “We just got $50K from a customer” or “we got 100,000 users spending x minutes on our site”
5. Finally if you’re ever so lucky – “Everyone’s buying in droves and we’re here because we need money to scale and execute”
— Raising Money Using Customer Development « Steve Blank (via scottruitt)
