On this episode, presented by Konek, Rob Snyder, author of the new book The Power of Pull, talks about the critical difference between demand and supply in a bold new way. Snyder shares how retailers can filter genuine vendor value from buzzword-driven pitches, how AI is reshaping B2B sales, and why watching customers struggle beats asking them what they want.
Why do most new products fail — even when they solve a real problem? In this episode of The Voice of Retail, presented by Konek – Canada's way to pay. Visit Konek.ca to learn more., host Michael LeBlanc sits down with Rob Snyder, founder and author of the new book The Power of Pull, to unpack why understanding customer demand is fundamentally different from pitching supply — and what that means for retailers, vendors, and startups trying to win business today.
Snyder's path here started at McKinsey & Company, where he grew frustrated with consulting from the outside and moved into the startup world to learn how companies actually work. After Harvard Business School, he built his first startup selling into retail and restaurants — and spent two brutal years hitting a wall before finally cracking the code and scaling to $4 million in annual recurring revenue in under two years. That hard-won experience became the foundation for his PULL framework, and for a career spent studying, through Harvard Innovation Labs, startup advising, and angel investing, why some new ideas take off while most don't.
The conversation digs into the core distinction at the heart of Snyder's book: demand is not the same thing as wanting a product. Demand is a person trying to accomplish something in their life; supply is simply the tool they pull in to get it done. Snyder revisits the famous (and possibly apocryphal) Henry Ford "faster horses" quote to explain why asking customers what they want often produces the wrong answer — and why the real skill is identifying what people are stuck trying to do with the options already in front of them.
For retailers fielding constant vendor pitches, Snyder offers a practical filter: can this startup speak your language, cite specific relevant case studies, and explain exactly how they've unstuck a comparable business — or are they hiding behind buzzwords like "agentic AI"? He also tackles how AI is reshaping the competitive landscape for B2B startups, arguing that as AI closes gaps in the "limitations" side of the PULL framework, vendors need to find pull in places AI hasn't reached yet.
The episode closes with Snyder's advice for retail leaders trying to uncover genuine, unfiltered demand: skip the customer interviews, and instead watch shoppers struggle in real time — in-store and online — to find the moments where existing options fall short.
Rob Snyder's new book, The Power of Pull, is available now wherever books are sold. Connect with him on LinkedIn or at robsnyder.org. This episode presented by Konek – Canada's way to pay. Visit Konek.ca to learn more.