So says Dan Rua in his recent post on Florida Venture Blog:
Demonstrating customer interest jumps an entrepreneur ahead of all the idea-on-a-napkin entrepreneurs who just assume customers will flock to their big idea. However, when institutional investors ask questions about the size of the opportunity, including market size and scalability, referring to current customer interest really doesn't address the question.
This is very interesting, because while I agree with this idea (as far as raising capital, making a great business), I think that building the community around your product is equally as important as the business plan, the branding and the viability of the idea. I've seen the power of communities to let the powers that be know what they're doing wrong, in content consumption and creation both.
I'd like to write more, but I've got to get back to my content creating.