vector research partners ( aka V4RP )
Non-Obvious Signs of Early Startup Traction — And How to Spot Them
We dug into the trenches with founders to uncover the weird, often counterintuitive moments when they realized their startups were actually working.
Outline
Early-stage company-building is a grind. It’s just you, maybe a co-founder, a tiny team, hacking code, chasing leads, sending cold emails, and surviving on bad coffee. Even with a live product and a handful of customers, it’s hard to tell if you’re actually moving the needle. You’re stuck in self-doubt loops:
“Are people actually using this? Are they excited? Is this even PMF?”
Sure, numbers help—ARR, CAC, conversion rates—but in the early days, you often don’t have enough data to make those meaningful. That’s where subtle qualitative cues come in. The tricky part? They’re easy to miss, and sometimes they feel like the opposite of good news—like angry customers or a flood of competitors. True traction often only clicks in hindsight.
Eilon Reshef (Gong) nailed it:
“As a founder, I was always looking for negative signs instead of positive ones. Focusing on what you can improve isn’t bad—but then you’re never in celebration mode.”
At V4RP, we’ve tracked founders’ messy early journeys to pinpoint those subtle “aha” moments. Here’s what to watch for before the spreadsheets start showing real traction.
HOW YOUR CUSTOMERS FEEL
Criticism beats crickets
Everyone obsesses over NPS and churn, but the real early signal? Complaints. If customers are yelling at you, they care. If they’re silent…you’re probably irrelevant.
Take Eddy Lu, GOAT’s CEO. After a promo went sideways, users flooded social media to curse him out. Nightmare? Sure. But he realized: demand was real. “At our stage, it’s better to be hated than unknown,” he said.
Eilon Reshef saw this with Gong. Early design partners complained that the tool didn’t record all their calls. It was supposed to just scratch the surface, but the complaints proved it was becoming essential. Twelve early partners became paying customers—a qualitative green light before the numbers even existed.
Rule of thumb: complaints = traction. Silence = danger.
Strangers are willing to try your product
Friends will always try to be nice. True traction shows up when total strangers willingly spend their time testing what you built.
Sprig’s Ryan Glasgow avoided his personal network, cold-emailing YC founders and PMs to see if they’d engage. Many did. Time is money in B2B, and if strangers are giving yours, you’re onto something real.
Feature requests are a good problem to have
Clay’s Kareem Amin found early traction by noticing a flood of feature requests. It meant people were actually using the product, not just being polite. When your users start telling you exactly what they want, you’re being pulled toward PMF—even if it feels like chaos.
Seeing your product live is a revelation
Signing a contract doesn’t mean your product is used. Airtable’s Andrew Ofstad only realized traction when he walked into a WeWork office and saw the team using it everywhere. That’s the visceral moment: your product isn’t just a concept, it’s becoming part of people’s workflows.
Customers are sold on the idea alone
Vanta and Lattice founders both saw leads coming in without a polished product or website. Organic demand before your product is even real is a screaming signal that you’ve nailed something valuable.
HOW THE STARTUP COMMUNITY FEELS
Nobody’s roasting you on Hacker News
A quiet Hacker News debut? That’s traction. Michael Grinich (WorkOS) called it a “badge of honor.” Developers loved the idea, the snark was gone, and early signs of PMF were clear—even before usage metrics caught up.
People are calling you by name
When your startup name enters the industry lexicon, it’s a signal your product is real. Shippo’s Laura Behrens Wu noticed people started referencing the company without prompting—proof the market recognized her company as an actual player.
Smart people are solving the same problem
Competition can be a sign you’re onto something. Vercel’s Guillermo Rauch noticed respected names in open-source were building the same thing. If the sharpest minds see value in your problem, you’re validating it.
HOW YOU FEEL
You can relax…a little
Retool’s David Hsu found that founder morale tracks PMF. Early wins didn’t feel like a geyser of certainty—they felt like small stones rolling uphill. Once momentum built, the relief and confidence became a quiet but reliable signal.
You’d use your own product
Dogfooding is underrated. Pilot’s Jessica McKellar and Webflow’s Bryant Chou realized their “aha” moments while watching themselves—or co-founders—use the product in ways that would have been impossible without it. If it works for you, it might work for the market.
Founder morale is rising
Tracking your own mood isn’t fluffy. Productboard’s Hubert Palan used a “founder mood meter.” Once he noticed his happiness stabilizing, he had evidence: things were actually working. Your gut can be a surprisingly strong early signal if you pay attention.
At V4RP, we’ve seen these subtle signs separate founders who make it from those who don’t. Early traction isn’t always in the spreadsheets—it’s in complaints, strangers using your product, feature requests, your own gut, and the quiet nods from your community. Spot these moments, and you’ll know when your grind is starting to pay off.
