I've made a huge mistake. Learn how to avoid the same.

I've made a huge mistake...

Building and launching a product without a specific customer in mind can be a big problem. I made this mistake and should have known better.

I built out an AI tool, https://marketingframe.works but didn't have a target customer or ICP in mind.

Without a target customer, it's challenging to tell the right story about your product and connect with the people it's most likely to help.

So, the next hurdle to overcome is figuring out the right groups who can benefit the most. This is backwards. This is a solution looking for a problem.

Don't make the same mistakes.

🤔 Here's my advice and major takeaways. You probably know all of this already as I have too for decades but it's a good reminder to not make the same mistakes.

➡️ Don't build anything without validation.
Validate that there are buyers for your solution before coding anything.

➡️ Build with an outcome in mind & fix a specific problem.
The product should solve a problem. If it's not solving a specific problem, the marketing process will be much more challenging.

➡️ Build for a targeted group.
The more specific, the better when you're doing MicroSaaS or courses, especially.

For example, you could try building a new CRM platform, but you're going up against Salesforce who makes $100M/day... but if you made a tailored CRM platform for maritime law firms, you would know exactly how to stand out (from a feature and targeting perspective).

➡️ Always start with the MVP.
I overshot my MVP (minimum viable product) by a mile. The app does FAR too much. This makes the full package harder to explain, harder to market and harder to sell. It's better to reduce the number of features to a minimum that will satisfy the user and provide the outcome. Dark mode isn't a feature.

Always figure out who you're going to help with your product instead of assuming it will magically attract users.