English
Forget the product, focus on the customer
“Working backward from customer needs is a huge amount of work. But it will save you even more work later.” — Jeff Bezos
This issue runs deep. It is at the very root of how we talk about products: the framing that products are “desirable” to customers has influenced product thinking for over 20 years.
In reality, no products are desirable to customers. Customers have desirable outcomes, which products can help them reach. And while any successful product strategy must ultimately pick a level of outcome at which it wants to play, choosing to play at the widget level and then flailing for product-market fit before your funding runs out is the least effective level to play at.
“Working backward from customer needs is a huge amount of work. But it will save you even more work later.” — Jeff Bezos
This issue runs deep. It is at the very root of how we talk about products: the framing that products are “desirable” to customers has influenced product thinking for over 20 years.
In reality, no products are desirable to customers. Customers have desirable outcomes, which products can help them reach. And while any successful product strategy must ultimately pick a level of outcome at which it wants to play, choosing to play at the widget level and then flailing for product-market fit before your funding runs out is the least effective level to play at.
Forget the product, focus on the customer
“Working backward from customer needs is a huge amount of work. But it will save you even more work later.” — Jeff Bezos
This issue runs deep. It is at the very root of how we talk about products: the framing that products are “desirable” to customers has influenced product thinking for over 20 years.
In reality, no products are desirable to customers. Customers have desirable outcomes, which products can help them reach. And while any successful product strategy must ultimately pick a level of outcome at which it wants to play, choosing to play at the widget level and then flailing for product-market fit before your funding runs out is the least effective level to play at.