Demand creation can build a category. It can also destroy a company.

Demand creation can build a category.

I’ve seen a $30M business collapse because a “must-have feature” solved a problem customers didn’t actually have.

The feature was funded.

It was marketed.

Internally, it became a strategic pillar.

Customers didn’t want it.

The category thesis collapsed.

With it, a $30M business that never recovered.

Not because execution was bad but because judgment was wrong.

𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗯: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵.

When buyers don’t see the problem yet, but it’s real, there is a powerful sequence 👇🏻:

1) Make the invisible visible

2) Build authority

3) Shape the category

But there is a step before all of that.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟬: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹

Before educating the market, run research to confirm the problem exists beyond your narrative.

• Conduct structured interviews with existing customers and ICP-matched prospects

• Identify where current workflows leak time, money, or revenue

• Quantify the cost of the status quo with real examples and data

• Test whether the pattern repeats across geographies or verticals

If the pattern is local, treat it as a beachhead, size TAM, narrow to SAM, prove SOM, and launch where the problem is actually true.

Only then does demand creation become powerful.

Curious: have you seen cases where a company tried to create demand for a problem that wasn’t really there?