The "traction or distraction" edition
from Traction Lab Podcast Hosted by JDM and Cameron Law
Traction—it’s the holy grail of startups, but what is it, really? More importantly, what isn’t it? In this episode, Josh David Miller (JDM) and Cameron Law dive into the nitty-gritty of what traction actually means for startups. They break down why founders often mistake distractions for traction, how traction evolves through the startup lifecycle, and what investors are really looking for when they ask, “So… do you have traction?” You’ll hear: ✅ Why sales alone aren’t the ultimate proof of traction (gasp!) ✅ The Ladder of Evidence—how to proportion effort to traction signals ✅ How traction changes depending on where you are in your startup journey ✅ The difference between confirmatory data and wishful thinking ✅ A breakdown of discovery vs. validation in experimentation Plus, JDM picks fights with vanity metrics (again), Cass reigns supreme as co-host, and the guys end as they always do, with frivolous thoughts: * Cameron tries to not get distracted by philosophical TV thought experiments; and * JDM gets meta about traction, thinking through how to increase traction for… an event about traction. Resources & Links 📚 Testing Business Ideas by David Bland (for real-world traction experiments) 📢 Traction Thinking Newsletter – Subscribe here 🛠 Interested in The Traction Lab? Learn more here 🎧 If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a founder who needs to hear it! 🚀 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zerototraction.substack.com
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