This is great advice (that we need to follow) but needs to be updated for 2026. The information value of providing (or receiving) a demo has dropped to roughly zero with vibe coding. Today, an apparently functional and useful product can be produced and demoed in minutes, but that demo provides absolutely zero information into the technical capabilities of the demoing team to follow through on promises with polish and at scale. It doesn't reflect a studied architecture or edge case handling. It basically only shows a vision, which can be tailored to perfectly mirror the recipient's expressed desire even though it's absolute vaporware. This makes it even harder to sell to enterprise in 2026 when the scene is awash in such noise.
In my experience demos are half about the product and half about the team / company behind it. So I wouldn’t call its value zero: part of the reason a potential client is asking for a demo is to see if there’s actually a real, intelligent company behind the product.
>that demo provides absolutely zero information into the technical capabilities of the demoing team to follow through on promises with polish and at scale.
With vibe coding comes vibes-based capital. I'm only half kidding.
Right, and the story now shifts to: What's your customer service & support model? How can you prove this is stable and that you can maintain it? Who is going to handle the pages in the middle of the night?
All those things are beyond the demo itself. Vibe-coded demos are just demos. There are stability, security and everything enterprise that still needs to be added to a demo to actually make it functional as a paid offering.
>> We’re excited. When can you come back and show us a prototype?”
> When you've put your hand in your pocket.
I thought the same thing. From my reading of "The Mom Test", my sales strategy changed to incorporate the lies that a business would tell you to avoid hurting your feelings.
Basically, if you cannot give me a purchase order after seeing the software, you don't want it!
I do like the idea of a cancellable purchase order that they sign: organisations need an earthquake to move them sometimes. Once that thing is approved and signed by the powers that be, absolutely no one in that org is going to bother cancelling it and going with a competitor.
> What do you mean by that? Promise some investment? Commit to something?
Commitment, in any form. Best is a signature on a purchase order.
The Mom Test is a good explanation of why you don't have PMF with the client until you receive a purchase order.
In short, people don't want to tell you things that hurt your feelings, especially if you're a good sales person (good sales people are likeable, you aren't closing if the client doesn't like you).
So you're sitting their with the clients team, and they like you, you made a good impression. No one wants to tell you "Look, it's not what we want, it's best you be on your way". What they'll do instead is:
1. Try to soften the blow with "We like it but we have to get sign-off from $VP first" (blame it on the non-present Big Bad Wolf); you tell them "Can we pull them in now? How about tomorrow?"
2. "Don't have the budget but we'll put it in the upcoming budget in a few months" (Hoping you won't know on their door again in 4 months); You tell them fine, we can sign now for deployment in a few months, before the rates increase you will have in a few months, and you'll throw in a discount as well.
3. "Can it do $X, $Y and $X" (Hoping you'll say "No" and then bugger off); you tell them they can make $X, $Y and $Z part of the signed purchase order.
4. "We have a lot of projects going on now, don't have capacity to manage this" (Hoping, again, you'll bugger off and forget to come back); this is one you don't respond to, you just back off because they don't need your product that badly.
If a business wants what you are selling, you will have a signed purchase order the next day. If you don't get that signed PO, you follow up over the course of maybe a month. After that you spend your limited sales resources on someone else.
Once, I spoke telephonically with an (existing) client in the morning on an upsell, and had their signed purchase order about two hours later. Fair enough, this was an existing client, but the upsell was for a completely new product.
My rule of thumb is "demo once, and record the demo". If higher ups need to see a demo before they okay, they can see the video. If the demo was not to the correct group, the correct group can see the demo (and they'll request another demo if they want one, the existing group won't ask for another demo without new participants).
Look, sales means you do more work than the client, but they still have some work to do, and if they don't do it then they're not committed.
I think new founders are sometimes intimidated by customers, especially well-known brands, we don't want to upset or annoy them instead of being open about not being able to afford to run loads of pre-sales technical work. We also see the dollar signs for one large customer when we should be seeing smaller dollar signs for many customers.
For the customers, to be fair, they are partly trying to derisk the purchasing decision by making sure everyone and their dog has seen the demo, shown that it definitely does exactly what they want with their data and processes etc. and they have no skin in the game at this point, so why not?
Believe in the product you have built already and as the OP says, be certain of product market fit and ABC (always be closing).
With vibe coding comes vibes-based capital. I'm only half kidding.
Only if you're a software-only startup. If you have hardware, the entire article is still valid.
The hard problems still remain.
before I read that book and tried to sell some stuff I realized in org's there' more than 1 buyer.
in a typical b2b / gvt deal - you've 4 buyers at least.
The headline is borderline clickbaity. Specifically the word "Ruthless" made me think of something unethical like Delve's business.
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47634690
When you've put your hand in your pocket.
> When you've put your hand in your pocket.
I thought the same thing. From my reading of "The Mom Test", my sales strategy changed to incorporate the lies that a business would tell you to avoid hurting your feelings.
Basically, if you cannot give me a purchase order after seeing the software, you don't want it!
I do like the idea of a cancellable purchase order that they sign: organisations need an earthquake to move them sometimes. Once that thing is approved and signed by the powers that be, absolutely no one in that org is going to bother cancelling it and going with a competitor.
Commitment, in any form. Best is a signature on a purchase order.
The Mom Test is a good explanation of why you don't have PMF with the client until you receive a purchase order.
In short, people don't want to tell you things that hurt your feelings, especially if you're a good sales person (good sales people are likeable, you aren't closing if the client doesn't like you).
So you're sitting their with the clients team, and they like you, you made a good impression. No one wants to tell you "Look, it's not what we want, it's best you be on your way". What they'll do instead is:
1. Try to soften the blow with "We like it but we have to get sign-off from $VP first" (blame it on the non-present Big Bad Wolf); you tell them "Can we pull them in now? How about tomorrow?"
2. "Don't have the budget but we'll put it in the upcoming budget in a few months" (Hoping you won't know on their door again in 4 months); You tell them fine, we can sign now for deployment in a few months, before the rates increase you will have in a few months, and you'll throw in a discount as well.
3. "Can it do $X, $Y and $X" (Hoping you'll say "No" and then bugger off); you tell them they can make $X, $Y and $Z part of the signed purchase order.
4. "We have a lot of projects going on now, don't have capacity to manage this" (Hoping, again, you'll bugger off and forget to come back); this is one you don't respond to, you just back off because they don't need your product that badly.
If a business wants what you are selling, you will have a signed purchase order the next day. If you don't get that signed PO, you follow up over the course of maybe a month. After that you spend your limited sales resources on someone else.
Once, I spoke telephonically with an (existing) client in the morning on an upsell, and had their signed purchase order about two hours later. Fair enough, this was an existing client, but the upsell was for a completely new product.
My rule of thumb is "demo once, and record the demo". If higher ups need to see a demo before they okay, they can see the video. If the demo was not to the correct group, the correct group can see the demo (and they'll request another demo if they want one, the existing group won't ask for another demo without new participants).
Look, sales means you do more work than the client, but they still have some work to do, and if they don't do it then they're not committed.
I think new founders are sometimes intimidated by customers, especially well-known brands, we don't want to upset or annoy them instead of being open about not being able to afford to run loads of pre-sales technical work. We also see the dollar signs for one large customer when we should be seeing smaller dollar signs for many customers.
For the customers, to be fair, they are partly trying to derisk the purchasing decision by making sure everyone and their dog has seen the demo, shown that it definitely does exactly what they want with their data and processes etc. and they have no skin in the game at this point, so why not?
Believe in the product you have built already and as the OP says, be certain of product market fit and ABC (always be closing).