Ep. 2961 - Q&A: “What’s the best way to pre-sell a product I haven’t made yet?”
Side Hustle School
Chris Guillebeau / Onward Project
4.8 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can you sell a product that doesn’t fully exist yet? In this episode, we help an engineer navigate the world of pre-sales, with tips on how to test demand while building trust with potential customers.
Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.
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Transcript
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| 0:49.4 | How can you sell a product that doesn't actually exist yet? Love this question. Welcome to Saito. My name's Chris Gillebeau. In this episode, we're going to help an engineer navigate the world of pre-sales. You've got an idea, but you need to build a project, build a product, let's say, and you want to attract pre-orders, pre-sales, pre-commitments. |
| 1:11.9 | Perhaps you need some funding to actually make the product. |
| 1:14.1 | Or even if you don't need money, it's a lot nicer to know that there is an existing market |
| 1:18.6 | waiting to purchase your product, which pre-sales can help with that. |
| 1:21.9 | So in this case, our listener is in the prototype stage. |
| 1:24.4 | He wants to test demand through these pre-sales, but he's worried about any |
| 1:28.2 | potential pitfalls. What about expectations? What about refunds if the demand doesn't pan out? |
| 1:33.6 | So let's consider how he can approach this with confidence. I love hearing different questions |
| 1:37.9 | from our listeners. Thank you for being out there. The detailed version from Mark and my answer |
| 1:42.1 | coming right up. |
| 1:50.3 | Are you still recovering from the hectic holidays? If so, I get it. Life can be chaotic, |
| 1:54.9 | but thankfully our partnership station can help you out. If you're doing order fulfillment for an e-commerce business, you can save hours and money every single month by shipping |
| 1:59.3 | from all your stores with one login. It's going to help |
... |
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