Talk to users. Write code.
Good founders maintain a direct connection to their users. No middleman!
What you should do at all stage is talking to your (future) customers:
- Got idea? => find users with problem
- Built prototype = > best first customer
- Launched => find product-market fit
When you start a business, a common mistake is to build the product for months and then you decide to launch. Beware: you are probably solving a problem that doesn’t need to be solved or building a shitty product.
No one succeeds to have its product good from the first time! It takes 20 to 30 times to reach something great. So keep your burn rate low. Code in house. And try to do prototype as easy and quick as possible. If you need 3 months to build every time the product and launch it, then to do it 27 times it will take you years.
The most helpful tools in the early days are the following:
- Customer interviews (5–10 needed)
- UX testing sessions (3–5 needed)
- Metrics
You need to make sure you are talking to your target customers (and be open to changing your view on who those are).
Don’t overthink it.
This stuff moves really quickly when you are doing it right. It’s meant to help you extract maximum value in minimum time from conversations so you can get back to what really matters: building your business.
I. Customer Interviews
Customer interviews are essential to building a great business. You can learn more about them by reading the following article: How to run efficient customer interviews?
You need to focus only on the things that get you to your next milestones (for most of the founders, it is product-market fit).
Optimize for learning: what is the biggest stuff you don’t know about your business.
II. UX testing sessions
UX testing sessions are silmple and invaluable.
You only need 3–5 testing sessions to uncover the most critical issues
III. Metrics
You’ll never have as a large sample size as you’d like. Beware of telling too many stories with too little data.
They are three key metrics:
- Returning usage (Day 1, 3, 7, 30 retention)
- NPS (should be >50)
- Paying customer renewal rates
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