How do you understand that you have found a real customer need and not just a wish?

A customer's real need can be distinguished from a mere want through several approaches:

• Problem and goal analysis: it's important to understand what problem the customer is trying to solve, not just what they want to get. If the solution helps achieve a business goal or improve key metrics — that's a real need.

• Verification through data: metrics, feedback, user behavior are collected to confirm that the problem truly exists and affects the product.

• Interviews and observation: direct communication with customers and observing their work helps identify hidden needs that they may not explicitly express.

• Minimum Viable Product (MVP): creating a simple prototype to test a hypothesis and gather feedback.

Thus, a real need is something that provides value and solves an important problem, not just a desire or idea without confirmation.