Most people say nice things when you pitch your product. “Oh, that looks really great! I like it, but we’re not buying right now. Maybe call back later in the year?” It’s hard to tell you that your baby is ugly. This creates a trap for new founders who are (rightly!) infatuated with their ideas. They yearn so desperately for validation—nominally product validation but actually personal validation—that they interpret these kindly social white lies as confirmation. But sometimes the potential cust...