I continue to be astounded to see companies chase each other off the cliff repeating one of the most destructive marketing techniques ever invented: Promoting imaginary non-existing products.

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in FOUR YEARS".

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in THREE YEARS".

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in TWO YEARS".

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in ONE YEAR".

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in TWO YEARS".

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in THREE YEARS".

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in... Shit! We have no buyers".

People want to solve problems today. They don't go to Home Depot to buy a drill bit for a hole they need to drill in four years. Or two. They need to drill a hole now.

The constant announcement of vapor products only serves to either tell the audience you are clueless and have no product anywhere near a reasonable horizon or --not sure which is worst-- push people into making a decision in favor of a competitor.

Cars are a displacement market. This is a market where a purchasing decision means a long term loss of the opportunity by all competitors. Once someone buys a car they stop looking for 2 to 10 years.

In a displacement market, spooking your prospects into making a decision in favor of a competitor generally means you slit your own throat. You thought you were being hip and cool while making amazing advanced announcements of a vapor product and, instead, you convinced prospects that you and your product are not real. The next move is natural: If they have a reasonably immediate need they lose all trust and hope on you and buy the competitor's product.

See you in a decade.

This, BTW, is very common in engineer-driven companies.

I know. I was the moron making these incredibly dumb decisions for my own business twenty years ago. I can't even described the amount of business I lost because I convinced myself that talking about what's coming "real soon" was actually of interest to my prospects. It wasn't. They bought the competitor's product and I lost them for a decade or for a lifetime. They got tired of hearing me go on about a nonexistent mythical product. Some of these losses represented company-changing multi-million-dollar multi-year lifetime opportunities. Gone. Shitty way to learn a lesson.

It's a very different thing if a company like BMW says "We are building a pure electric and here's the i3 and i8, two of our experiments" vs. a Joe-Blow-Startup without a factory or scale saying "...coming soon". BMW can survive this because it has a reputation and a following.

Some people (my wife) would rather buy an electric BMW to replace her current IC BMW. She is happy to wait. She trusts and likes BWM and knows they can deliver. She likes Tesla, but BWM saying "we are almost there" along with their reputation is likely to keep her from buying a Tesla.

On the other hand such loyalty does not exist with an unknown startup. The effect is to eventually see the continuing announcements of vapor as a signal that they are never going to be a viable option. And they are gone.

OK smart-ass. How do you do it then?

Simple. Develop a product. Finish it. Get it to the point where you can deliver a good reliable product. At that point, not before, announce it and open the doors.

As much fanfare as you want. Market as far and wide as your budget and skills allow.

The key is: The product has to be real and you have to be able to take orders AND deliver now, not in two years.

Lucid Motors has been blabbering incessantly about a car for quite some time now. And their "important announcement" is:

"Look at us! We are going to have THIS disruptive product in TWO YEARS".

Yeah. Good luck. Shitty way to learn a lesson.