Pre-Sell Before You Build: Deposit, Pilot, or Intent Test

You have an idea and a short list of people who might pay. The first move is not code; it is choosing the smallest real-money signal that fits the buyer. Choose the format, write the pass threshold, and match the refund rule before you build.

Write the pass threshold before you ask for money

A pass threshold is the line between “maybe” and “go.” Write it down before launch: how many buyers, what price, what window, and who counts as a buyer. If the threshold is fuzzy, the result will be fuzzy. One example of a written pre-sale pass threshold is 40 deposits of 90 euros collected within 21 days from people outside the campaign's personal networks. When you are testing willingness to pay, put a price on the page and watch for movement.

Match the money format to the buyer's risk

The format should fit the buyer's ability to spend now, not the founder's desire for proof. Use the same checks for each option: buyer fit, written pass threshold, and refund obligation.

• Pricing-page intent test. Fit: software buyers who can decide quickly. Pass threshold: a written count of people who move past the price. Refund: light, because no money changes hands. Joel Gascoigne of Buffer put up a landing page with pricing options to gauge willingness to pay before building the full product.
• B2B letter of intent. Fit: companies with procurement cycles. A B2B letter of intent is usually non-binding. Pass threshold: a written number of signed LOIs from named buyers. Refund: minimal, because the document should not promise payment.
• Paid pilot. Fit: buyers who can spend before a full rollout. In a paid pilot, the company sets aside real budget to evaluate the solution. Pass threshold: a written number of pilots that convert to a follow-on decision. Refund: cover the pilot scope, not the whole product.
• Refundable deposit. Fit: products with a delivery date. A refundable deposit is the safest pre-sale format and is most often used in hardware and marketplaces. Pass threshold: a written number of deposits inside a fixed window. Refund: explicit, because the buyer gets the money back if you cannot deliver.
• Capped founding-member deal. Fit: early software or community products where lifetime access is the offer. A founding-member deal should be capped, with 100 lifetime seats treated as a validation experiment and 1,000 as a business-model problem. Pass threshold: a written cap plus a written reason to stop selling. Refund: say what happens if the product never ships.

The ladder is not a sequence you must climb. Pick the rung that matches the buyer's risk, then move up only when the threshold is met. A weak signal is information. A strong signal is permission to spend time on the build.

Start with the ask the buyer can make today

Match the ask to the buyer's position: a money ask when they can pay today, a named document when they need internal approval, and the smallest reversible commitment when they are unsure. Keep the ask narrow enough that a yes is a real yes and a no is useful. The format should make the next step obvious. If the buyer has to guess what you are asking for, the threshold is not written well enough.

Check the cancellation rule before you collect money. For order merchandise sold by mail, internet, or telephone, U.S. FTC rules define shipment-timing expectations and give buyers a cancellation/refund right when the seller cannot meet those timings. Do not build the full product until the threshold is met. If the result is weak, change the format, the price, or the buyer, not the code.

Put the threshold on paper, send the initial asks, and keep the refund rule visible. File the evidence together: the buyer list, the refund rule, the review date, and the buyer's name. At the review date, decide whether to continue, change format, or stop. Do not add features before you review the result.