Most corporate innovation projects are killed too late, after the third pivot and the second budget extension. The kindest thing a validation system can do is say stop early, while the money is still on the table. We would rather kill the idea than the budget.
Prefer audio? Listen to this piece on Substack.
Let's skip the polite build-up.
If your innovation doesn't get a financial commitment before you build, you're gambling and not testing your innovation.
For years, I fooled myself.
I was doing all the right things: customer discovery interviews, problem validation, and MVP's.
But we were too late with one question:
Will anyone pay for this — now?
I see the same mistake every week.
Teams with great insights, solid decks, and internal momentum, but no paying customers.
Not even a deposit.Not even a signed intent.
We call this the Financial Validation Gap, and it kills more innovation projects than bad tech, tough competition, or lack of talent combined.
So this week, I recorded a podcast to help you spot the gap in your project before it gets too expensive to fix.
In this solo episode, I will walk you through:
- The mistake that cost me €500,000
- How even corporates fall into the "fake validation" trap
- The exact structure of a Pitch MVP and how to use it to get early commitment
- Why we use the 40% Rule before we ever write code
- What Amazon does in 3 months (that most teams ignore for 18 months)
If you've ever launched something only to realise nobody's willing to pay for it, this one's for you.
💬 PS: If this topic hits home for you or someone on your team, forward it. Or send them to PreXLR to learn how we turn "interesting" ideas into committed deals.
Let me know what resonated.Or what hurt.
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Don't create unicorns,Let's breed blue whales. 🐋
(Podcast episode, ~14:10 audio.)
Related reading: What You Need To Do Before Scaling Your ventures: Close the Validation Loop, Podcast: Prove It or Kill It
A stop is a result. One of our clients kept €4 million that way: read the case. We validate by commitment in PreXLR and install the go-to-market in XLR. Book a discovery call.