hey friends 👋

I’m JDM (aka Josh David Miller) and I’m a traction scientist — I partner with pre-seed and seed-stage startups to turn assumptions into data, and data into product-market fit, using science. I run design sprints at The Right Box , I’m co-founder of the Traction Lab incubator, and I’m a content creator.

Check out my recent content below, or read more about me .

Recent Content

I write two weekly newsletters, co-host a podcast, and create content on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and other places — all based around helping first-time founders launch sooner and scale faster with traction science.

These are four of my most recent pieces:

• What investors say vs What they mean

  Zero to Traction Podcast · 17 hours ago

  Listen now | Investor feedback feels like a roadmap. It's not. Most of what you're hearing is a politely disguised no—and chasing it will cost you months you don't have.

• 🔀 mistaking early revenue for a sales motion

  Traction Thinking · 6 days ago

  Seven paying customers. Strong retention. The numbers look real - except all seven came from your personal network. That's not a sales motion. That's a list of favors with an expiration date.

• Your revenue is real. Your sales motion isn't.

  Zero to Traction Podcast · 8 days ago

  Listen now | You have MRR. You have customers. You're ready to raise. Except your entire pipeline runs on favors from people who already like you — and that's not a sales motion, that's a countdown.

• 🔀 raising big to avoid raising again

  Traction Thinking · 14 days ago

  This week in The Pivot: over-raising to dodge your next round — giving away more equity, taking on a milestone you can't hit, and winding up back at the table anyway. From a worse spot.