Market-Stall Product Feedback Loop
Sell early, listen face to face, and refine around real demand
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 94%
Create a functional version, share it with trusted people, and then begin selling before you feel completely certain it is finished. Use a setting such as a local market to observe reactions, hear criticism, and meet returning customers face to face. Feed recurring comments into product refinements while watching which item attracts repeat demand and commercial interest. The mechanism turns each sales session into both revenue and research: customers experience the real product, the maker gets direct evidence, and the next iteration reflects actual use rather than assumptions. Schmidt followed this pattern while refining a broader personal-care range, then narrowed her attention when deodorant showed stronger wholesale and shelf potential than the other products.
Origin
Schmidt described spending roughly one and a half to two years selling at Portland farmers markets, using customer praise and criticism to refine her products. The deodorant's stronger demand and wholesale potential eventually made it the focus. Extracted from The Foundr Podcast.
Core principles
- 01Real customers reveal more than private polishing
- 02A product can launch before its maker feels fully comfortable
- 03Criticism is useful input, not a verdict
- 04Repeated demand should determine where the business focuses
How to run it
- 1
Make a functional version
Develop a version you personally value and can responsibly put in front of others. Expect iteration rather than waiting for total certainty.
Pro tip Begin with a format you can revise without committing to large production runs.
Watch out Do not treat enthusiasm from the maker alone as proof of demand.
- 2
Run a trusted-circle test
Share the product with friends and family to expose obvious usability issues and see whether anyone responds strongly enough to recommend it.
Pro tip Ask what they would change, not only whether they like it.
Watch out Friendly praise can be biased, so use it as preparation rather than final validation.
- 3
Sell face to face
Put the product in front of paying customers in a low-cost environment. Observe questions, objections, repeat visits, and retailer interest.
Pro tip Choose a venue where likely early adopters already shop.
Watch out Waiting until you feel 100 percent comfortable can delay the evidence you need.
- 4
Close the feedback loop
Record recurring positive and negative feedback, then apply it to the next product iteration. Let customers see that useful criticism is heard.
Pro tip Prioritize repeated comments over isolated preferences.
Watch out Listening without changing anything breaks the loop.
- 5
Focus on the demand signal
Compare products by repeat demand, retailer approaches, and shelf opportunity. Shift resources toward the item with credible business potential.
Pro tip Treat unsolicited retailer interest as a meaningful signal worth investigating.
Watch out Do not preserve a broad range merely because you started with one.
In the wild
Schmidt initially made deodorant, shampoos, soaps, lotions, and other personal-care products. She brought them to farmers markets, where customers returned with praise and criticism. As she refined the products, she saw that deodorant had stronger business and wholesale potential than the rest and concentrated on it.
→ A hobby-scale range produced a focused product opportunity supported by repeat customers and retailer interest.
Common mistakes
Waiting for complete confidence
Schmidt said she was not fully comfortable when she began selling. Requiring certainty would have postponed the customer feedback that improved the product.
Hearing only the compliments
Positive reactions build confidence, but criticism supplies specific revision targets. Both are necessary for a useful loop.
Keeping every product equally important
A broad experimental range is useful at first, but the strongest commercial signal should eventually earn focus.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for early physical-product founders who can meet customers directly and revise the product quickly.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for products that cannot be tested safely or legally without formal specialist validation.
From the transcript
“i never was 100 comfortable when i went out i kind of just realized it was time to just get out there and sell it”
“customers were loving it coming back the next week giving me their feedback”
“i realized the deodorant was the 06 00 one thing that um there was a real business potential behind”
From the episode
357: My Hobby Resulted In A 9-Figure Exit: Jaime Schmidt of Schmidt Naturals
Jaime Schmidt