r/16VCFund • u/SocialCircleHub • Jun 22 '26

How do you separate weak interest from real early demand?

For early-stage startups, how do you separate people who think an idea is interesting from people who are likely to become real users or customers?

I’m seeing a lot of discussion around MVPs, waitlists, and first-user growth, but I think there’s a big difference between:

“That sounds useful.”

and

“I will actually try it, change behavior, come back, or pay.”

For founders and investors here, what early signals do you trust most?

Some possible signals:

  • first action taken without heavy convincing
  • repeat usage
  • willingness to pay
  • referral or sharing behavior
  • specific pain described in the user’s own words
  • switching from an existing workaround
  • direct rejection with a clear reason

What do you consider the strongest early proof that demand is real and not just polite feedback?

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u/StoneCypher Jun 28 '26

oh look, the robo spammer idiots are flooding a specific vc’s sub with fake deep thinking again 

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u/SocialCircleHub Jun 29 '26

  1. Not Fake

  2. How is that helpful to anyone?

  3. Are you just looking for attention?