“In deciding what to sell, the best approach is to sell what people buy—in other words, think more about what people really want than about what you think they need.”

Why it was said

Chris Guillebeau writes this in The $100 Startup (2012), in a passage headed "Sell What People Buy". It draws on the small businesses he studied for the book, most of them started with very little money.

What it actually means

Founders often build what they believe customers ought to have: the more complete course, the healthier menu, the software with every feature. Customers, meanwhile, pay for what they already want, which is usually a specific result described in their own words. Guillebeau's rule closes that gap from the seller's side. It is not cynical; a business can still serve a real need, but it has to be offered as the thing the buyer is looking for, or it will not be bought. The practical test is language. If customers describe their problem one way and your offer describes it another, the offer is built around your view of their needs. The rule is a starting point for a first offer, not a substitute for judgment about what is worth selling at all.

How to use it

1. 1Collect the exact words five customers use to describe the problem you solve, and rewrite your offer's headline using their words instead of yours.
2. 2Before building a new product, describe it in one sentence and ask three potential buyers whether they would pay for it now; treat a polite "interesting" as a no.