“The product was super buggy — for me that was like the ultimate proof: if they pay for this buggy product, there's really an opportunity here.”

Paying Customers on a Buggy MVP Is the Only Proof That Actually Matters

Fernando launched AI Carousels on Product Hunt and five users paid despite obvious bugs. He treats willingness to pay through friction as a stronger signal than signups, waitlist interest, or positive feedback — any of which can be polite noise. Getting paid on a broken product means demand is real and it's time to double down.