“See all that stuff in there Homer? That’s why your robot never worked.”

Last week a simple comment on a LinkedIn post turned into a creative challenge: can Steve Watt ???? and I create a week’s worth of thought leadership posts based on Simpsons quotes and references?

So far, I’d say the results have been a resounding success.?

And for this week’s Thought Leadership on Thought Leadership column, our Simpsons challenge gives me the chance to address both one of my favorite clips of all time, as well as one of the biggest challenges facing marketers and communicators today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To1AbJBOKwU

The Simpson family visits Itchy and Scratchy Land, the Disney-esque theme park based on a hyperviolent kids’ cartoon. While the robots are programmed to attack each other during the park’s hourly parades, they have built-in sensors to avoid threatening human guests. A robot mouse reveals the complicated technology hidden in its head, and in a throwaway line, Marge says: “See all that stuff in there Homer? That’s why your robot never worked.”

The episode moves on quickly, leaving the viewer to imagine the backstory. Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: a big-picture thinker has an idea for a product that will change the world and make them rich, but they lack the tools and knowledge to build it themselves. They spend a lot of time and resources trying to make their vision a reality, but the end result is never a viable product with real market value. (Elizabeth Holmes should have visited Itchy and Scratchy Land.)

Let’s talk about vaporware

Not every company is born with a fully-baked solution ready to take to market. As one of my client CEOs likes to say, engineering and product development are processes of discovery. Sometimes a brilliant mind (or brilliant team) can launch a company without knowing what exactly they’re going to build and be perfectly successful.

The challenges emerge when a company transitions from building their product to bringing it to market. Facing a wide range of pressures from investors and overall economic conditions, some founders may feel pushed to start marketing a product before it’s truly ready. The goal is to thread the needle: by the time they’ve driven customer interest, their product development will hopefully have caught up to the demand.

But we all know that in reality this isn’t always the case. We end up with vaporware: a “tool” that makes big claims but doesn’t have any measurable impact on a customer’s operations or performance. It’s Homer’s robot without the sensors and chips — and it’s a landmine for your sales, marketing, or PR career.

The real deal: credibility leads to opportunity

Just in the past month, I’ve seen two shining examples of the difference between a company that knows what it’s selling and one that’s trying to build the car while it’s in motion.

A month ago, a good friend of mine was talking about whether or not he should leave his current sales position. He loved the company’s mission and executive team, but he was finding it hard to gain traction in the market. “How’s the product?” I asked. “Well… to be honest, right now it still kind of sucks.”

I can see why he talked himself into the role and the company, and it’s understandable why he was hesitant to give up on his sunk cost. But there’s no functional difference between a product that’s not ready for the market and a simply bad product. Trying to build a sales career on a product you don’t believe in is like trying to get a hit off Pedro Martinez without a bat.

Contrast that with the news that crossed my LinkedIn feed a couple weeks ago. Kyle Lacy , CMO of Jellyfish , announced the launch of their new website, and he zeroed in specifically on their prominent use of product demos. If you visit jellyfish.co, you immediately have the chance to see how the product works — I'd argue that it's not just how the product works, but the fact that it works at all.?

It seems simple, yet the vast majority of companies don’t do it. This focus on credibility — showing rather than telling — empowers marketers and sales leaders to approach their work with confidence. It shows they’re offering something of value.?

Work with the tools you believe in

We’re currently living with the consequences of a market that prioritized growth by any means necessary and placed huge bets on vision without the technology to back it up. If Homer took his robot to certain VC firms in 2021, he probably could have walked away with a nine-figure valuation.

2023 brought us crashing back down to Earth, and it’s brought some key lessons on communications that we could all learn from:

• If you’re in sales, don’t waste your time selling a product that doesn’t work. Your career growth will be based on results — you can’t build on a flimsy foundation.
• If you’re in comms or PR, don’t take on clients that can’t sell a true story. Yes, there will always be opportunities to help companies figure out how to deliver their message to the market, but there will be many more opportunities to try to turn the yellow pages into Shakespeare. It’s never worth taking on the vaporware client — trust me.
• And if you’re a founder or product leader struggling to navigate the balance between product development and business pressure, do whatever you can to make sure your minimum viable product is more viable than minimum. You only have one chance to make a first impression — don’t blow it.

The days of “fake it ‘til you make it” are over (at least for now). If Homer Simpson shows up asking you to help sell his robot, ask him for a look under the hood first.