This past week I spent a couple of hours reflecting on the challenges I’ve seen in nearly 100 companies we’ve worked with in our programs—from those just starting with an idea to those already making $85M in revenue. And note: these are companies across all types of industries—food, beverages, consulting, digital products, etc. I also ran an analysis with an LLM based on the challenges entrepreneurs mention when applying to our programs.

The questions I asked myself were: Why do some companies “hit the nail on the head” faster than others? How do some go from idea to sales so quickly? How do some generate momentum so fast?

More than 90% of the companies I talk to are constantly optimizing their acquisition: trying new strategies, new copy, spending more on ads, etc.

This is probably happening to you too.

But then there are companies in our Scale program—like YuFun, Lolo, DentOs, or Capta—that tell us: “We don’t run ads. In fact, if we did, it would probably kill demand.”

To give you a real example, Fernanda and Diego, Lolo’s cofounders, often mention:

  • “We’re between life and death. Demand is overwhelming us.”
  • “In December we almost went under—we had too many orders. We had to stop accepting them because operations spun out of control.”

Basically, you either need to work really hard for the market to adopt you, or you’re on fire because demand is overwhelming.

Yes, it’s possible to build businesses in both cases.

  • Consultancies are an example of companies that constantly need Market Push. Take an accounting firm: it has natural demand, but because the market is crowded and undifferentiated, it becomes almost a commodity. To stand out, it has to push hard (paid ads, partnerships, SEO, etc.). Worse, they often resort to price wars, since clients have multiple options and bargaining power.

  • Another example is “vitamin” products or services, like a podcasting agency. The market is small, very few people or businesses are looking for it, and even fewer have the budget. Although you can turn a vitamin into a painkiller for a specific segment, like luxury brands do.

  • On the other hand, products or services that generate Market Pull usually share two conditions: the product/service is inherently strong, and the market is less competitive—unlike most consultancies.

The challenge is that sometimes a product that needs Market Push suddenly starts generating pull. That’s why it’s hard to know if you’re in the wrong market—or just have bad timing.

For example, this was the case with Cerebro, a company from our program. They started building an operating system for schools using LLMs three years ago. Now, educational groups are literally begging them to implement it.

The reverse can also happen: you start with pull, but the market saturates and forces you into push. For example, the chatbot boom with LLMs. It was hot for a few months, but now it’s saturated.

What other factors should you consider?

Another problem: even if your product/service has strong natural demand, founders often make one (or both) of these mistakes:

  • Poor segmentation
  • Poorly communicated value proposition

For the past two years, I’ve been obsessed with learning about sales, especially B2B. I’ve spoken repeatedly with sales leaders in different organizations to understand how they do it. And note: the products and services were all very different.

I’ve combined this with what I’ve seen in our Launch program, where I’ve been surprised by how quickly some B2B companies gain traction. We even saw it recently with a B2G company.

And while it seems simple, one of the biggest factors in achieving Market Pull is:

  • Being crystal clear on your ICP
  • Being crystal clear on the benefits you deliver (not the features—that’s very different)

These are areas where we often fail. We think we know what problem we solve and for whom—but we don’t.

The best salespeople I’ve met are obsessed with clarity on their ICP and how their product/service benefits them. This isn’t static—it’s constantly refined.

And for that, you must know how to ask the right questions and listen to your customers—just as Garry Tan points out.

The Last Factor

Finally, one way to make Market Pull easier is to position yourself at the base of Maslow’s pyramid.

Say you’re selling to a tech company. You have two options:

  • AWS: the infrastructure that allows your company to be online.
  • Chatbot: a tool that optimizes customer support.

Are both useful? Yes.
Are both vital? No.

You can live without a chatbot, but replacing AWS is far harder.

Obviously, it’s easy to write about this. The challenge is achieving Market Pull.