“Cool Story, But What Did You Learn?” — Why Startup Activity Isn’t the Same as Progress
A founder once told me:
“We launched the MVP, posted in a few communities, got hundreds of views, and people are excited.”
My first question was simple:
“Awesome. What did you learn?”
Long pause.
That pause matters.
Because one of the most common startup traps is confusing activity with evidence.
And honestly, it’s understandable. Startup work feels productive:
building features
posting online
getting signups
collecting survey responses
launching waitlists
But if none of it reduces uncertainty about your business, you may just be doing what the hosts of the Zero Detraction podcast jokingly call:
“Procrastivity” — productive-looking work that avoids the scary questions.
The Real Job of a Startup
The podcast frames startups through the lens of traction science.
In plain English:
A startup is not just building a product.
A startup is systematically reducing risk.
That changes how you think about everything.
Instead of asking:
“What should we build next?”
You start asking:
“What assumption are we testing?”
“What evidence would prove it?”
“What evidence would invalidate it?”
That shift is massive.
Why Founders Drift Into “Procrastivity”
One of the more interesting ideas from the discussion was this:
“Procrastination is often unprocessed fear.”
Not laziness.
Fear.
Examples:
Fear customers won’t pay
Fear nobody actually cares
Fear the product solves the wrong problem
Fear the startup itself may not work
So founders unconsciously gravitate toward safer tasks:
polishing the UI
collecting waitlist emails
posting on Product Hunt
tweaking branding
adding features
Those things feel productive because they create motion.
But motion is not momentum.
Example #1: The Freelancer SaaS MVP
The startup:
built a Notion-based MVP
shared it in freelancer Slack groups
got 400 views
collected 120 signups for the “real version”
At first glance, that sounds promising.
But the podcast immediately asked the important question:
What exactly was being tested?
The Problem
They said they built an MVP.
But the metric they measured was:
waitlist signups
Those are two different experiments.
If the goal was:
“Do people want the product?”
Then a landing page test might work.
If the goal was:
“Does this MVP create value?”
Then they needed:
actual usage
actual workflows
ideally willingness to pay
Instead, they built something more substantial…
and measured almost nothing meaningful from it.
Key Lesson
Don’t just build something.
Build an experiment.
And define success before launching.
Example #2: The Mental Wellness App Survey
This startup had:
a 3,000-person waitlist
sent a survey asking which feature users wanted most
journaling prompts “won”
Sounds data-driven, right?
Not really.
The Core Issue
The podcast pointed out something subtle but important:
2,300 people didn’t respond.
That silence matters.
And even among the responses:
Was this open-ended feedback?
Multiple choice?
Ranked voting?
Were users choosing “must-have” features or simply “expected” features?
Because journaling in a mental wellness app is a little like:
messaging in Slack
playlists in Spotify
photos in Instagram
People expect it by default.
That doesn’t mean it drives value.
Better Questions They Could Have Asked
Instead of:
“Which feature are you excited about?”
Ask:
“What problem are you actively trying to solve?”
“What are you using today?”
“What’s frustrating about it?”
“How urgent is this problem?”
Those answers produce actual insight.
Example #3: The Ethical Shopping Chrome Extension
This startup launched:
a Chrome extension
got 800 installs in two weeks
and said:
“Now we’re watching how people use it.”
That line triggered immediate pushback.
Why?
Because:
“We’ll see what happens” is not an experiment.
The Missing Ingredient: Intentionality
Good startup experiments define:
what success looks like
what behavior matters
what metric proves value
Examples:
Did users actually use the extension?
Did it change buying behavior?
Did it stop purchases?
Did it increase trust?
Would users pay for it?
Without those definitions, installs become vanity metrics.
And vanity metrics are dangerous because they create false confidence.
The Big Startup Mistake
Across all the examples, the same pattern appeared:
Founders celebrated:
views
signups
installs
survey responses
But skipped:
conversion
retention
willingness to pay
urgency
behavior change
In other words:
They measured attention instead of value.
Personal Opinion
One of the best lines in the episode was this:
“If you’re not getting data from actual customers, you’re basically wasting your time.”
Harsh? Maybe.
But mostly accurate.
The market does not reward:
effort
passion
feature count
clever branding
It rewards value creation.
And the fastest founders are usually the ones most willing to hear:
“This isn’t working.”
Because every bad assumption discovered early saves:
months
money
emotional energy
Recommendations for Founders
1. Define the learning goal first
Before every experiment, ask:
“What uncertainty am I reducing?”
2. Stop measuring vanity metrics
Traffic alone means almost nothing.
Focus on:
activation
retention
conversion
behavior change
willingness to pay
3. Treat experiments like science
Every experiment should include:
hypothesis
success metric
failure condition
next action
4. Don’t avoid uncomfortable tests
The scary questions are usually the important ones.
Especially:
pricing
commitment
urgency
5. Remember: speed matters
A failed experiment quickly is progress.
A vague experiment slowly is just expensive wandering.
Final Takeaway
The founders who win are not the ones who stay busiest.
They’re the ones who learn fastest.
Actionable recommendation:
The next time your startup does something “exciting,” ask:
“What assumption did this actually validate?”
If you can’t answer clearly…
you probably just collected another cool story.
About Josh David Miller
Over the past decade, Josh David Miller has empowered over 100 startup founders and innovators to launch and scale their ventures. As the driving force behind the Traction Lab Venture Accelerator,
Josh specializes in guiding early-stage startups through the intricate journey from ideation to product-market fit. His expertise lies in transforming innovative concepts into viable, market-ready solutions, ensuring entrepreneurs navigate the challenges of the startup ecosystem with confidence and strategic insight.
About Cameron R. Law
Cameron R. Law is a Sacramento native dedicated to building community, growing ecosystems, and empowering entrepreneurs.
As the Executive Director of the Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at California State University, Sacramento, he leverages his passion for the region to foster innovation and support emerging ventures. Through his leadership, Cameron plays a pivotal role in shaping Sacramento's entrepreneurial landscape, ensuring that innovators and builders have the resources and support they need to succeed.
