The old world product development starts with first building a product, then demoing it to prospects, then making a sale -- Build-Demo-Sell.

The new world reorders some of these steps: Demo-Sell-Build.

In other words, if you can't sell the demo, why build the product?

• If you've ever backed a crowd-funding campaign, you bought an offer, not a finished product.
• Selling an offer vs a finished product isn't just relegated to smaller purchases. Tesla sold their initial cars using an offer which required a $5,000 down payment and $45,000 wire transfer within 10 days to reserve.
• Selling an offer isn't just relegated to B2C products. As much as you'd like to close a big B2B deal immediately, the more complex the sale, the more complex the sales process. You have to first sell the UVP, then the demo to multiple parties, and finally have a pricing discussion with the right buyer. This can take several weeks to several months. If you don't manage to sell the offer, your product never makes it to the pilot stage.

Contrary to popular belief, you almost never need a finished product to close a sale. Depending on the complexity of your product, you may sometimes need a working prototype for your demo, but don’t assume this unless your customers ask specifically.