TRACTION means validating your product or business model.
Validating means proof, not by what you say or predict, but by what is actually happening with your users/customers.
- How do you know your product works? The more people that use it successfully, the higher your traction.
- How do you know that your product is in demand? The more people that use it, the higher your traction.
- How do you know that you can make money? The more people that pay you for what you do, the higher your traction.
CUSTOMERS want to see that you have enough traction so that there is little risk for them to adopt your product. No customer wants to be your first customer.
INVESTORS will often decline to finance your business if they don’t see enough traction. How much traction varies by the investor. Some investors believe in the idea and the team enough to invest before there is much traction, but most investors want to see quite a bit of traction. The more traction you have, the more investors you will attract. Most investors want to give you fuel (money) for the fire (traction) you already started … they don’t want to give you fuel to start the fire (because they worry that you may not be able to start it).