Marcus Startup Advisor · Advisory framework
Identify who benefits and who pays
A user can love a product while a budget holder sees no reason to buy it. Map the user, buyer, approver, and beneficiary before interpreting usage as commercial demand. Each may need a different reason to change.
Include the work behind the revenue
Revenue alone does not show whether the model works. Include onboarding, support, delivery, rework, payment costs, and founder time that would need replacing. A service-heavy first version can be a sensible learning tool, provided its economics are not mistaken for those of a finished scalable product.
Treat price as a hypothesis
Test a concrete offer with actual buying conditions. Discounts can help learn, but record what they change. A heavily discounted pilot does not demonstrate willingness to pay the intended price. Separate what customers bought today from what you hope future customers will buy.
Choose the next commercial proof
If customers pay but do not return, investigate the ongoing value. If they return but delivery is expensive, examine the operating model. If usage is strong but purchase decisions stall, study the buyer and approval path. The next experiment should address the current constraint.
Delay volume until the logic holds
Set explicit margin, retention, and delivery thresholds appropriate to the model. Review them with observed data and honest assumptions. Do not assume a larger market or more marketing spend will solve a business model that loses value with every additional customer.
Your next decision
Write down the proposed commitment, evidence, assumptions, and the smallest next proof. Choose a threshold before running the experiment.