The three questions you will always be asked
Friday. Eight minutes, one page. Maya has read half of it, and she has already decided she disagrees.
How do you know, what does it cost, what if you are wrong
- CoachHalf read, already against it
She stopped halfway down the page. That is normal. Your job is the eight minutes, not the page.
01 · drawingHalf read, already against it - YouThree questions, every time
How do you know? What does it cost? What if you are wrong? Have each one answered before you sit down.
02 · drawingThree questions, every time - Coach“I don't know” is an answer
Follow it with how you would find out, and by when. It sounds stronger than a guess, because it is.
03 · drawing“I don't know” is an answer - YouBluff once
Get caught inventing one number, and every number you have ever given becomes suspect.
04 · drawingBluff once
How Superhuman handled it
Superhuman
Rahul Vohra needed to show his team and his investors that Superhuman had product market fit, a claim usually made on vibes.
He asked users Sean Ellis's question, how would you feel if you could no longer use this product, and made the 40 percent “very disappointed” threshold the whole argument. Then he built the roadmap from what would move the “somewhat disappointed” group.
The most defensible arguments compress to one number and one sentence. If you need five slides to make the point, the point is not sharp yet.
Doing it with AI, and where it breaks
Have a model play the person you are presenting to, with their priorities and known objections, and run the eight minutes three times.
It will invent a much nicer founder than the one you will face. Tell it to interrupt within thirty seconds and to reject any answer without a number.
You are Maya, the founder of Sona. You have read half of this memo and you disagree with it [paste]. Interrupt me within thirty seconds. Ask only versions of: how do you know, what does it cost, what if you are wrong. Reject any answer that has no number or source.
Build it
Written answers to the three hardest questions, and a memo fixed wherever they exposed a hole.
The worked solution
Stuck, or want to compare?
There is a worked solution. Try the build first. Reading it before you have attempted anything is the fastest way to learn nothing.
Checkpoint
If you did the build, these take two minutes. If you cannot answer one of them, that is the part to go back to.
Moving on marks this lesson complete. Finish the build first, it is the part that counts.