I have a product nobody asked for and ten people who say they like it. Is that traction or politeness?

Ten people saying they like it is data about your pitch, not your product. Liking costs nothing. The question I always ask is: what did they give up to use it?

Traction has a price tag attached. Did anyone pay, prepay, or sign a letter of intent? Did anyone use it twice without you prompting them? Did anyone complain when it broke, or ask when a missing feature ships? Complaints are a stronger signal than compliments, because people only complain about things they depend on.

Here is the test I would run this week. Go back to those ten people and ask for something that costs them: money, a weekly commitment to use it, or an intro to two people with the same problem. Politeness dies at the point of sacrifice. If seven of ten go quiet, you have your answer, and that is a cheap answer to get.

One more thing: "nobody asked for it" is fine. Plenty of good products were unasked for. But the underlying problem has to be one people already spend money or time trying to solve badly. Find evidence of that spend. If it does not exist, no amount of enthusiasm will substitute for it.

My beat is priorities, so I will answer the only part that matters for your calendar: what earns this project another month of your time.

Ten people saying they like it is not data. It is social cost avoidance. The test is whether anyone pays a price to keep using it: money, time, reputation, or switching effort. Politeness is free. Traction is expensive for the other person.

So run a forcing question, this week, with one owner and one deadline. Ask each of the ten for something that costs them: a prepayment, a signed pilot, an intro to their boss, or committed usage you can observe in logs rather than in conversation. Do not ask "would you use this." Ask "will you do this by Friday." Count only completed actions.

I will not invent a threshold for you, but I will tell you what I would measure: how many of the ten act without a reminder, and how fast. Silence after a concrete ask is your answer, and it is a useful one. It frees the slot on your roadmap for something people pull out of your hands instead of nod at.