Y Combinator Co-founder Paul Graham: If Customers Are Unwilling to Buy Your Product, Ask Them What They Would Buy
Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham stated that if customers are unwilling to purchase your product, you should try asking them what they would buy instead. He pointed out that this may seem obvious, but surprisingly few founders do this, and it often leads to valuable insights.
In a follow-up response, Graham added that one should further inquire about the problems customers face and what causes them pain. He has long advocated for founders to engage directly with users rather than just pitching ideas. This advice emerged during his public discussion on product and user alignment.
This viewpoint continues Graham's long-standing principle of "talking to customers." He has repeatedly emphasized in past articles and Y Combinator guidance that the core issues for early-stage startups are determining product form and acquiring initial users, both of which can be addressed through interaction with potential users. He suggests asking users about pain points in their current practices rather than merely collecting feature requests.
Graham has written that talking to users can reveal errors in founders' initial perceptions of users. When testing applicants, he prioritizes examining "what you learned from users." Products that a small number of users strongly need often have more startup value than those with broad but shallow interest.
Founders can turn rejections into specific demand information by asking directly. Funding and development resources shift from ineffective feature iterations to user-validated directions. Potential customers provide details on alternative purchasing intentions or existing solutions, allowing founders to adjust their products accordingly. Teams that stick to their original plans face pressure from market feedback, while those who iterate quickly gain corrective paths.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Paul Graham has consistently emphasized direct dialogue with users since the founding of Y Combinator, stating in 2017 that half of his advice to startups can be summarized as "talk to customers." In a 2022 article, he pointed out that applicants should explain what they learned from users and has repeatedly distinguished between asking about pain points and collecting feature requests in various public forums. This advice aligns with his long-term framework.
Graham transforms user feedback into a basis for product iteration, allowing founders to obtain alternative demands through rejection scenarios. Resources shift from being driven by internal assumptions to being driven by external validation. The Y Combinator office hours and batch guidance repeatedly reinforce this path, shaping early product direction through interaction with initial users.
Similar customer development methods have appeared in the lean startup framework, emphasizing the discovery of real needs through interviews rather than validating assumptions. In the current AI product environment, demonstrations may secure meetings but not necessarily budgets; asking about purchasing intentions after a rejection can reveal workflow and integration needs.
Essentially, this represents a transfer of pricing power. Product value shifts from being defined internally by founders to being determined by customers' actual willingness to pay and pain points. The mechanism lies in converting sales rejections into demand signals, directing resources toward market-validated directions rather than continuing to invest in unverified assumptions, thereby changing the ownership of decision-making in product iteration.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Asking about alternative needs after a purchase rejection is the cheapest product specification.
What users say they want to buy is often more specific than founders' assumptions.
Asking about pain points reveals problems, while asking about purchases reveals paths.