There’s No Traction Without Action
Why your customer saying “maybe” isn’t good enough
Let’s get one thing straight: no one cares how great your idea is if no one’s doing anything about it.
You can have a slick prototype, a glowing customer survey, or a deck packed with hockey-stick projections — but if nobody’s clicking, signing, showing up, or swiping a card, you’ve got vapor, not a venture.
Traction Isn’t a Vibe — It’s a Verb
Traction isn’t how excited your friends are for you. It’s not a “would totally buy this someday” comment. Traction is behavior. Traction is evidence.
Here’s how Steve Blank put it: “A startup is an organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” You’re not building a proven business like a pizza shop in a college town. You’re searching for new one. And that search? It needs proof.
So what counts as proof? Welcome to the Triangle of Traction — where we climb from weak signals to real receipts.
The Flimsy Stuff (a.k.a. Talk)
"I'd definitely buy this!"
"This is such a cool idea!"
Survey says: 87% of respondents claim they’d pay $9.99 a month.
None of this counts. It’s social noise. Nice to hear, useless to build on.
Tier 1: Action That Could Lead to Revenue
Created a customer account
Downloaded the app
Claimed a Free trial
Joined the wait list
Active on your community forum (Discord, Slack, Facebook group, etc.)
These are early steps toward eventually ringing the register. Whispers of smoke for the fire you're trying to build.
Tier 2: Promises with Teeth
Now we’re talking:
A Letter of Intent (LOI)
A written statement from a company saying, “When this is ready, we’ll pay X.”
It’s not money in the bank — but it’s a directional bet with someone’s name on it. A founder named Dusty Birge secured a million dollars in funding using five letters of intent. They weren’t contracts. They were commitments. And they moved the needle.
Tier 3: Actual Dollars BEFORE a Product
Presale = proof. You’ve got someone paying today for something they won’t even get until later. That’s confidence. That’s hunger. That’s real.
Ask Vishal Singh, who sold cattle tags before they were ready. It was gritty. It was direct. And it ended in an acquisition from Merck Animal Health.
Top Tier: Revenue, Plain and Simple
The top of the traction triangle is what everyone wants: someone gives you money, and you give them a product or service — right now. Repeatable, scalable, with the promise of margin eventually.
But don’t get ahead of yourself. Sell it once. Then learn to sell it again. Then sell it without you in the room. Margin comes later.
Don’t Confuse Noise for Momentum
Your biggest enemy right now? It’s not another startup. It’s not a better version of your idea.
It’s indifference.
Indifference sounds like “huh, interesting.” It feels like ghosted emails and dead Slack threads. The only way through is action — real action — from someone other than you.
So make it easy for people to move:
Put up a waitlist.
Offer a 7-day trial.
Create a simple pre-order page.
Ask someone to sign a lightweight LOI.
Doesn’t have to be sexy. It just has to be something.
Repeat After Us: No Traction Without Action
If someone’s taking a step today — clicking, committing, paying — you’re building something real.
If they’re just promising to be excited later, you’re still in the dream phase.
So yeah, ring the damn register. Get your hands on that first messy little sale. It won’t be perfect. It won’t scale yet. But it’ll be the beginning of a business, not just a brainstorm.
Because ideas are cheap. Action is everything.
