#147: How to Build a Product Customers Will Fund Before It Exists (Morgan Hewett, Devin Toys)

Meet Morgan Hewett, 2X founder with 1 exit under belt, and now, CEO of Devin, an AI-powered sex tech company rethinking how women experience pleasure, connection, and autonomy.After building and exiting her first AI startup, Morgan changed how she builds. Instead of raising fast and figuring things out later, she focused on something most founders avoid: getting customers to pay before the product is fully built.In this episode, Morgan breaks down how she’s using customer co-creation, social media, and pre-sales to validate demand, move faster, and build a company that can be funded by customers, not just investors. From turning content into a real-time focus group to challenging the obsession with fundraising, this is a masterclass in building with signal instead of assumptions.💡 Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:How to Validate Demand Before You Build: Why Morgan skipped the waitlist and went straight to pre-sales—and what that unlocked for her business.How to Turn Social Media Into a Growth Engine: The exact way she uses content to recruit, validate product decisions, and stay top of mind with customers.Why Overraising Can Hurt You: What she learned from raising millions in her first company and how it impacted her outcome at exit.How to Build With Your Customer (Not Just for Them): How she uses social media as a live feedback loop to co-create her product in real time.How to Move Faster With Less Risk: Why getting to payment earlier changes how you make decisions, prioritize features, and launch.🔥 Want the exact frameworks behind this episode?Get the weekly Growth Playbook where we break down how founders actually grow, with step-by-step frameworks you can apply immediately, and a community you can connect with to get feedback 👉 Subscribe here: https://shegetsshitdone.substack.com/subscribe