Early demos are more than a way to test features — they’re a tool to validate your idea, sharpen your message, and build distribution. By involving diverse audiences and embracing feedback loops, you avoid the echo chamber and uncover what truly differentiates your product. This is what Greg Isenberg calls vibe marketing — turning the act of building into a source of traction.

Early demos sharpen your product, message, and market understanding — but they also validate your idea and build your first audience.

Many founders delay demos until they feel the product is “ready.” We’ve learned to treat demos not as a destination, but as a steering wheel.

Here’s what shifted our mindset: We used to wait until features were polished, flows felt slick, and we had the perfect pitch. But in reality, waiting cost us more than it saved.

Now, we demo early, messy, and often.

Why? Because every demo does 5 things at once: • Sharpens the vision by forcing us to articulate what really matters. • Clarifies the roadmap by revealing which assumptions break under real-world scrutiny. • Reveals the competitive landscape, helping us see what other products are already solving, what is table stakes vs. differentiators. • Tests positioning live, letting us rehearse how we connect the problem, our solution, and the narrative. • Validates the core idea, by showing if the problem resonates with users — not in theory, but in their words, reactions, and behaviors.

Through these early demos, we kept hearing about products with overlap. Instead of getting discouraged, we leaned in — using those conversations to separate ‘must-haves’ from ‘nice-to-haves’ and sharpen our differentiators.

We’ve made it a habit to show our work to: • Other Entrepreneurs (they have been there done that and provide invaluable feedback) • Potential Power Users • Skeptics • And yes, even middle and high schoolers

Why kids? They ask questions adults won’t. They spot friction we overlook. They remind us that simplicity wins.

To make sure we’re not just hearing the loudest voices, we also layer in structured surveys using tools like Mentimeter and SurveyMonkey. These help us capture both gut reactions and data-backed signals.

Personal Note: We are applying this exact approach as we build EasyLinks, a tool to help people organize, surface, and share links without doomscrolling. We are building it in public, will be sharing early prototypes, roadmaps, and even our stumbles. Every demo s helping us validate the idea, refine the positioning, and discover what makes EasyLinks truly different. And at the same time, we’re building distribution as we build the product.

The result? • Our product is evolving faster • Our positioning is getting sharper • And we stay open to adaptation — holding tight to the why, but flexible on the how

Conclusion:

The demo-feedback loop isn’t about showing off. It’s about staying in the real world — where your product, message, roadmap, and idea collide with users, competitors, and reality.

If you only demo to insiders, you’re building in an echo chamber. If you demo early and wide, you’re building with the world. That’s where momentum — and differentiation — live.

#VibeMarketing #BuildInPublic

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