Feel the Boot
Feel the Boot
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Stop Developing and Talk to Your Customers
I noticed a pattern among founders I meet, and it is something I did too. We have an idea and immediately start working on it before validating it with our potential customers. In many cases, we have practically finished the product before we start showing it to people. But, if we guessed wrong we have wasted a colossal amount of work. I think I know why this happens. For technical founders, coding and development are our comfort zone. We're happiest when we're behind the keyboard in a dark room, banging out code and creating new software. Creating that solution is why we founded the company in the first place. Also, for introverts, getting out and talking to people makes us uncomfortable. Also, we often feel that we already know what the customers want and need. We know our customers and feel that we can stand in as a good model for them when designing our solutions. Unfortunately, you're not a good model for your customers unless you're building a tool for people who are exactly like you. I made that mistake. I was building the first stand-alone application version of Anonymizer. As a privacy passionate person, building for other similarly passionate people, I thought I could just make what I wanted for myself. The product was incredible. It provided very fine-grained control over all aspects of what information websites could collect and on which sites or pages they could collect it. Our customers hated it, and even I rarely used most of the features. I was not even a good model for what I wanted myself! After finally talking with our customers, the next version of the product had exactly one control: on/off. It was a huge hit. My error had significant consequences. We spent many months focused on that first product, costing us money we could not afford to lose. It also significantly delayed our entry into the market with a solution people wanted to use. Once we realized the direction we needed to go, we had to scrap almost everything we had built. It is almost impossible to get your app perfectly right the first time, and there is no substitute for the learning you gain when your product is in a customer's hands. But, the more you can learn, pivot, and iterate before you build anything, the faster and more efficient you will be. I noticed a pattern among founders I meet, and it is something I did too. We have an idea and immediately start working on it before validating it with our potential customers. In many cases, we have practically finished the product before we start showing it to people. I think I know why this happens. For technical founders, coding and development are our comfort zone. We're happiest when we're behind the keyboard in a dark room, banging out code and creating new software. Creating that solution is why we founded the company in the first place. Also, for introverts, getting out and talking to people makes us uncomfortable. Also, we often feel that we already know what the customers want and need. We know our customers and feel that we can stand in as a good model for them when designing our solutions. Unfortunately, you're not a good model for your customers unless you're building a tool for people who are exactly like you. I made that mistake. I was building the first stand-alone application version of Anonymizer. As a privacy passionate person, building for other similarly passionate people, I thought I could just make what I wanted for myself. The product was incredible. It provided very fine-grained control over all aspects of what information websites could collect and on which sites or pages they could collect it. Our customers hated it, and even I rarely used most of the features. I was not even a good model for what I wanted myself! After finally talking with our customers, the next version of the product had exactly one control: on/off. It was a huge hit. My error had significant consequences. We spent many months focused on that first product, costing us money we could not afford to
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