Designing Backwards

When we’re building something to sell, we spend most of our time on the “thing” itself.

We pour hours, weeks, months, even years into crafting and refining our creation.

As we near completion, the countdown to launch begins. We transition from creator to marketer. Our attention turns from building to selling. We hurriedly patch together a website, draft a press release and prep a few social media posts. We focus on how we’re going to convince people to buy.

In this sprint towards the finish line, we forget that while this is the last mile of our journey, it’s the first mile for our customers. What felt like the climax of a long journey is simply the beginning of another, more important one. Because all the time spent building is worthless if we can’t persuade anyone it’s worth buying.

A better approach is to design everything backwards. Figure out how you’ll sell the thing before you even start building it. 

And if you can’t think of any good reasons for people to buy, you can save yourself loads of time.

Don’t bother making it in the first place.