Not every signal is what it looks like
Demand is what every founder is looking for. The sign that there are real people who really want what you’re building.
But demand has a slippery cousin: fake demand. It looks like the real thing — interest, attention, sign-ups, even early sales — and yet it doesn’t translate into a business that actually works.
Fake demand is dangerous because it’s flattering. It validates the idea just enough to keep going, but not enough to grow. Founders building on it can spend months, sometimes years, before realising what was missing.
This topic is about how to spot it — especially the version that appears around new and hyped technology, including AI.
What real demand looks like
Real demand is users behaving as if they need what you’re offering.
They take actio...
