One characteristic of evaluating products and ultimately funding opportunities is whether the product is “a push or a pull.” Like every evaluation technique I use, I try not to think of it as binary but on a scale with push and pull on each side of the spectrum.
A pull product is a product in which the market is pulling towards it. Usually, this is synonymous with a white space or greenfield opportunity. However, pull products also have characteristics of solving a pain point that is so unbearable that the return on investment use case displayed in the use case is a no-brainer. I find pull products are usually solutions that replace phone calls, email, and spreadsheets. In a world where there seems to be a SaaS platform for everything, these products are becoming harder and harder to find.
Push products are products that require tons of convincing to sell. Generally, there is some pain in switching costs from what they are currently doing. There might be an incumbent software platform they are trying to replace selling they have a better UI and a couple more features. These products are much less appealing to me as replacing a platform for another platform is extremely difficult. Another characteristic of push products are solutions that are nice to have, not need to have. A solution that is a better experience for your customer’s customer might be great, but will it bring demonstrable ROI to the organization.
In a world where most vendors are solution/vendor fatigued based on the amount of SaaS products in the market – having a pull product is a much better bet than having a push product.
