“I predicted that if I had just built my SAS business on the back of my personal brand and me telling my own fans to buy it it wouldn't survive in the wild when I say wild I mean in the market and among the competition of other SAS companies that would build similar products as mine.”

Test Your Product in the Wild Before Betting on Brand Loyalty

Sebastian had nearly 1 million YouTube subscribers he could have pushed the product to, but deliberately chose not to. He reasoned that audience-driven sales wouldn't reveal whether the product was truly competitive against real alternatives. He wanted proof that strangers would pay for it without any personal endorsement.