After decades of hearing thousands of startup pitches, let me share a truth: few things make an investor roll their eyes and tune out faster than a founder with a “big idea” but little evidence of real-world demand. Investors want to cut to the chase quickly, and they are always searching for clear signals that a team truly understands their market, has spoken with real customers, and can back their vision with evidence—not just excitement.
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Founders, Here’s What You Need to Know
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Customer discovery isn’t a formality. It’s the very foundation of fundability. Too many smart, driven people try to shortcut this process, thinking market research or gut feeling is enough to go courting investors. It isn’t. Some of the most painful losses in my own investment history came from startups that never truly validated the problem they set out to solve.
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Why Does Customer Discovery Matter So Much to Investors?
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• Proof of a Real Problem: I’ve seen brilliant products fail simply because they don’t solve a burning problem. My question in every pitch: “Who has this problem, and how do you know?” If your answer is anecdotal, you lose credibility. If you’ve done dozens of interviews, have concrete feedback, and can point to early adopter enthusiasm, you have my attention.
• Risk Reduction: Early-stage investing is inherently risky. What de-risks your company more than anything is genuine insight about your target customer—their pain points, current solutions, and what they are ready to pay for. If you haven’t talked to them, you’re guessing. I don’t invest real money based on founder guesses.
• Sharper Value Proposition: The best pitches are grounded in customer language. When a founder shares actual quotes, stories, or frustrations from the field, I feel confident they know their market intimately. This level of understanding leads to better products, better marketing, and (eventually) better financials.
• Traction (Even If It’s Just Conversations): Many founders complain they can’t show traction before building their MVP. They’re wrong. There’s “traction” in the data and learnings you gather from rigorous discovery. Early customer commitments, letters of intent, or even just a pipeline of beta users show the market is waiting for your solution.

The Investor’s Checklist: Signs of Genuine Customer Discovery

When I listen to a pitch, here’s what I want to see evidence of:

• You’ve interviewed at least 20-30 potential customers for each buyer and user persona. Great founders who really get it will aim for >100 total interviews.
• You’ve adjusted your solution based on negative, not just positive, feedback.
• You can clearly articulate the “must-have” problem you’re addressing—in your customer’s own words.
• You know who your first 10 customers will (likely) be, and why.
• You have proof points: quotes, emails, pilot agreements, willingness to pre-pay, or other concrete market signals.

What Happens If You Skip This Step?

The graveyard of startups is littered with companies that fell in love with solutions and ignored hard truths about customer needs. As an investor, I see it as my job to help you avoid that pitfall—or walk away early if you can’t show me you’ve put in the work.

Final Thought

Before you polish that pitch deck, get out and do the discovery. Talk to customers. Probe, listen, adapt, and validate. Bring that learning to the table, and you’ll not only impress investors like me—you’ll greatly improve your odds of actually building something the world wants.

‍Pro Tip: Read The Mom Test before you get started, to ensure that you follow a rigorous customer discovery process. Better yet, take our Customer Discovery Workshop by Venture Mechanics' mentors Angie Parker and Catherine Bhattachar.