Dogfood First
Be our own first customer. But more importantly: dogfood until the chain-link strategy becomes legible to others.
The Policy
Our chain-link structure is illegible until demonstrated:
- Can’t sell Murphy without SmartBoxes working
- Can’t sell SmartBoxes without the Murphy vision
- Leading with Murphy is too ambitious
- Leading with SmartBoxes is too abstract
- Each link is hard to sell standalone
The strategy only becomes legible after both links exist and work together.
So before selling to external customers:
- Use SmartBoxes ourselves for real work
- Use Murphy to plan our own projects
- Become the case study that makes the chain visible
- Wait until the chain is demonstrated, not just described
The Validation Gate
When a client uses Murphy to agree the roadmap of their project, we have a product.
That moment proves:
- External user (not us)
- Real stakes (actual project)
- The Murphy thesis (planning as contract)
- Transferability (works for someone who didn’t build it)
Until then, we’re in the proving period.
Why We Think This Works
- Credibility: “We use this every day” beats “We think you’ll like it”
- Faster feedback: We get signal on what works without waiting for user research
- Better prioritisation: We build what matters, not what sounds good in a pitch deck
- Higher quality: We feel the pain of our own bugs
- Makes the chain visible: External observers can see both links working together
Constraints It Navigates
- No audience? - We don’t need users to validate the core proposition
- Single founder? - Using our own tools makes us more productive, not less
- Limited capital? - Dogfooding is free and provides higher-fidelity signal than paid research
- Chain illegibility? - We become the demonstration that makes the strategy legible
The Risk
We might build for our own edge cases rather than the broader market. That’s why dogfooding is necessary but not sufficient—the client validation gate is essential.