I found myself in the kitchen last night, cracking an egg into a frying pan. This wasn’t a normal dinner — this was research.

Decks and deal memos are great. But to really understand what a startup does, you have to use the product.

So when I had the chance to invest in a cooking app recently, it was time to close the laptop and grab the frying pan.

“It’s Time to Cook”

As the egg began to sizzle in the hot oil, I turned the heat from medium high to medium low as the app instructed. This was new to me — I’d always just left it on medium the whole time.

Wouldn’t this heat be too low? I looked at the pan skeptically…

In a few minutes, the white began to turn opaque, just like the instructions said.

“Would ya look at that!” I said to myself. The yolk was still a little jiggly, just the way I wanted.

I slid it out of the pan onto the mixed green salad I’d prepared. The moment of truth: time to take a bite.

“Wow, this is delicious.”

They were right. This was the best fried egg I’d ever had.

Does It Do What It Says?

When I made fried eggs on my own, the bottom always burned. Having the heat high at first and then turning it down seemed strange, but it proved a critical step.

This product claims to teach you how to be a better cook. I’ve been cooking for myself for 10 years, but on the first try with a very simple recipe, I was already better!

The app did what it said it would do. And if I’m impressed, I’m pretty sure other people will be too.

When You Can’t Use the Product

Sometimes, using the product isn’t feasible. This tends to be the case with SaaS apps, which aren’t designed for a casual user to play with.

But that’s okay, I have a way of trying those too!

I ask the founder to demo the product and I try to imagine that I’m the customer. Do I find this useful? Does it look nice?

If so, it might be time to make a bet.

Wrap-Up

Using the product seems like a simple trick. But as Jason Calacanis notes in his book Angel, many investors don’t do it.

If there’s an easy way to be better than other people, I’m all for it.

It’s also just a lot of fun playing with these products! I feel like a kid again using the internet for the first time — “Wow, isn’t this cool!”

In the case of the cooking app, I still have a little more research to do. But they passed one of my most important tests with flying colors.

How much do investors focus on your product? Leave a comment and let us know!

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