“Maybe you build a painted door app where you prove out that people are willing to pay for this and then you go build it.”

Painted-door MVPs: sell the promise before the tech exists

Cal AI shipped a product that didn't actually do what it promised, but distribution carried it until the team built the real tech. The lesson: in select categories a believable promise plus elite marketing can validate willingness-to-pay before the engineering exists. Run the painted-door, prove the conversion, then go build what you sold.