Build evidence
before you build
too much product
Starting something new means making important decisions when you know the least. Traction Lab helps founders turn those assumptions into questions that can be answered with evidence from the right people.
“The danger is rarely a shortage of ideas. It is moving too far, too fast, on assumptions that have never really been tested.”
Iain Wallace
Founder, Traction Lab
Find the people who can tell you whether there is something worth building
Not all positive feedback is useful evidence. Friends may love the idea. Potential users may say they would use it. Early enthusiasts may be fascinating — and completely unrepresentative of the market you eventually need.
What actually matters
Find people whose behaviour already suggests that the problem matters. They may already be working around it, spending money or time on it, accepting an imperfect alternative, or actively trying to solve it.
Progressively harder questions
Is the problem real enough? Who feels it most strongly? What outcome matters to them? What are they doing about it today? What would they actually change or pay for? What is the smallest product worth testing?
“Sometimes the evidence strengthens the idea. Sometimes it changes the product, the target user or the route to market. And sometimes the most valuable result is discovering early that an idea does not deserve another six months of your life.”
Iain Wallace
Traction Lab
Right people
Not whoever is easiest to interview
Recent behaviour
Not predicted future intent
Smallest test
Only what the evidence has earned
600+
Startup & tech leaders coached
Teams we have worked with in this mode
From an idea to evidence you can act on
Each step should earn the next one — from problem evidence, to a product worth testing, to the first users willing to engage.
Find the right people
Identify potential early users from evidence of what they already do — not simply from what they say they might do. The goal is not to find people who like your idea. It is to find people whose behaviour suggests they have a problem worth solving.
Learn before deciding
Explore what has actually happened: the problem, its consequences, existing workarounds, alternatives tried, what triggers action and what a better outcome would need to change. We use recent behaviour wherever possible rather than asking people to predict what they might do.
Build only what the evidence has earned
Use what you learn to sharpen the first target users, value proposition and smallest useful product or test. Then go back to the market.
Experienced enough to challenge you. Curious enough to let the evidence win.
Traction Lab is deliberately practical. We won't tell you that every idea can succeed. We won't ask users to design your product for you. And we won't confuse enthusiasm with demand.
Operator mindset
Iain has worked as a CEO, CRO and CMO and has coached more than 600 startup and technology leaders.
Decision-grade evidence
We help you decide what needs to be true, what you need to learn next, who can provide credible evidence and what that evidence justifies doing.
Behaviour over opinion
We look for people already working around the problem — not friends who like the idea or users predicting what they might do.
Risk, one assumption at a time
Identify the next biggest thing that would kill the startup if you get it wrong. Then test it before building around it.
Practical, not process theatre
The objective isn't to follow a startup process correctly. It's to discover whether you are building something enough of the right people will actually choose.
Active founder
Since 2015, Iain has helped founders and product teams turn uncertain product questions into evidence they can use to make decisions.
Have an idea you're serious about — but assumptions you'd rather test before building around them?
Let's talk about the product question you can't yet answer from inside the building.
Talk to Traction LabOr reach out directly
Adresse
44, rue Laborde
75008 Paris, France