> Maybe this fits for some types of businesses, but I suspect it's probably better just to build the thing.
9 out of 10 wantepreneurs that approach me with their SaaS/app idea can validate the offering by building a web site. Instead, everyone wants me to spend months on building a prototype. Which isn't even a prototype, they want full-blown product. "How am I going to sell it when there's no product?!". Dude, here's a landing page with ALL the features YOU THINK people want listed on it. And here's a "Buy now!" button. If you can't get a decent conversion with that, I'm not going to build your app ever. And guess what? Most of the time nobody clicks on the button, because nobody wants that product.
Gather their contact info at least, saying "We're launching our product soon. We'll notify you when it's available!". Those who actually leave their email probably have a strong interest and could be your early adopters. They might even be up to discussing their needs with you if they haven't found a product that solves their issue yet.
The trouble I see with that is if I'm a consumer and find this buy now button and instead of letting me buy now you ask me to join a mailing list I'm not going to be happy. When you eventually launch the product I'm going to remember you as the guys with the website with the weird mailing list dark pattern and avoid buying from you. That said I may be atypical.
I don't know much about consumer, but many enterprise services will only let you book a sales call even when they already have a product. That's annoying, but seems like people go with it.
9 out of 10 wantepreneurs that approach me with their SaaS/app idea can validate the offering by building a web site. Instead, everyone wants me to spend months on building a prototype. Which isn't even a prototype, they want full-blown product. "How am I going to sell it when there's no product?!". Dude, here's a landing page with ALL the features YOU THINK people want listed on it. And here's a "Buy now!" button. If you can't get a decent conversion with that, I'm not going to build your app ever. And guess what? Most of the time nobody clicks on the button, because nobody wants that product.
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