Pre-Orders Guarantee Startup Success – 6 Steps

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker

A pre-order is an informal commitment from customers to purchase your product before it is formally offered to the market. Pre-orders are vital to any new business because they validate your business idea before you launch.

Like many entrepreneurs forming B2B startups, I had the advantage of a significant, pre-existing corporate relationship base to build on. In a few cases, my customer relationships were close enough that I could try out my idea informally...