You can sell a product before you build it, and most of the time you should. If your first 5–10 customers pay at the idea stage, you get demand, money for development, and the most precise technical brief you could ask for.
Many founders think this is "cheating". In fact it is an open deal: the customer gets a solution to their problem early, built around their requirements.
In short:
- You don't need an MVP to make the first sales.
- The first customers give you revenue and a technical brief.
- You can sell with a video, a presentation or a demo.
How does presale work?
You tell the customer something like this:
"I will build exactly this solution for you, and later I will bring it to the market as a product."
10 such customers are the startup's first revenue. The product is built with their money, and its features are chosen with their input.
How did it work in real cases?
Nasiya365. With no product yet, $1,000 in ads brought 22 paid wishlist sign-ups and 12 sales × $5,000. We talked to more than 100 business owners and held 20+ offline meetings. Over the following 1-year period the product was built to these customers' demands.
MySchool. $1,115 in ads → 215 leads. Before the product was ready, 10 customers joined the waitlist, and there were 22 sales in total.
Memor CRM. The Go-To-Market for an ERP for construction companies was done at the idea stage, and it went well. The idea itself came out of custdev with Odoo leads. Details: Memor CRM and Profaber case.
What do you sell with if there is no product?
Three tools are enough:
- Video — problem, solution, result. It can be shot on a phone.
- Presentation or prototype screens — so the customer understands what the product will look like.
- In-person meeting — the founder explains it and answers questions.
What matters is that you deliver what you promised. State the deadline and scope clearly and agree on them in writing.
Where do most people go wrong?
The first mistake is "first a perfect product, then marketing". You build for 6–12 months, and then it turns out the market wants something else.
The second mistake is promising everything to everyone during the presale. Every customer asks for their own feature, and the product turns into custom development. The right way is to sell a solution to a shared pain and build only the requests that repeat.
Who is it for?
B2B SaaS, industry ERPs, edtech and service platforms. It works best in niches where you can talk to customers directly and the average check is relatively large.
Conclusion
In short, the winner is not the one who builds first, but the one who enters the market first.
- Write down the pain precisely.
- Make an offer with a video or a presentation.
- Take a prepayment from the first 5–10 customers.
- Build to their requirements.
We can build your presale strategy together — book a consultation.
About the author. Safarmurod Abduroziqov is the founder and CEO of AURA Digital: 6 years in marketing, 50+ IT projects, ~$1M in managed ad budget. Telegram · LinkedIn
Frequently asked questions
Can you sell a product without building it?
Yes. Nasiya365 made 12 sales with no product, and MySchool gathered 10 customers on the waitlist before it was ready.
Isn't presale deceiving the customer?
No, as long as the terms are stated openly: the customer knows the product is still being built and gets it early, built to their requirements.
When do you need an MVP?
After the first customers have paid and told you their requirements. That way the MVP is built on real demand, not on guesses.
Where do you find the first customers?
Through a small target, LinkedIn, Telegram and your personal network. At Nasiya365 that meant conversations with 100+ business owners and 20+ offline meetings.