One of the recent entrepreneurial posts here mentioned a question like "do your users know how much they are suffering for lack of your product right now?" and I think that related to polish.
If you have a machine that cures baldness you don't need polish. The knobs can be any color you want and give the user little electric shocks it doesn't matter. Nothing like this exists and potential users really know they want it.
Consider a hypothetical low quality situation with this product.
A guy running up to you on the street offering yellow colored baldness pills in a baggie. Sure they might work, but you’re not going to be the one to find out. The inventor, after many failed sales, may erroneously conclude there's no market for this product.
If you told someone from 1700 about any modern surgery they would think you are nuts for risking it - the little yellow pill is is less risky to them.
I wouldn't be the first to try your yellow pills on the street, but I know some people who would be. If they found it worked they would tell everybody, so things would quickly spread. (I'll ignore the FDA though government is a factor in the real world) In a few years people would be asking me why I haven't gone for those yellow pills yet...
There is continuum and a point where the low quality of the product/presentation makes it extremely unlikely you will find market fit. A needed investor may see that only 1 in 1,000 of people talked to will buy it and conclude the market is too small.
To give another anecdote: people had an immediate need to not die from infection after surgery but it still took over 50 years for doctors to wash their hands because it was originally perceived as an attack on the doctors cleanliness. A bit of polish on the presentation would have went a long way.
If you have a machine that cures baldness you don't need polish. The knobs can be any color you want and give the user little electric shocks it doesn't matter. Nothing like this exists and potential users really know they want it.