For startup founders, passion for the product comes naturally.
Youre probably your first customer, and so its easy to build something that you think customers will want.
But when it comes to growing your business, designing great products requires more than your own intuition.
It requires establishing a customer-obsessed mindset.
In my first startup, we were building a platform to buy and sell solar renewable energy credits.
It was a nascent market driven by new laws requiring the adoption of solar energy.
If you build it, they will come, right?
Cultivating a relationship with your customers can be incredibly difficult.
We published that everywhere and took every phone call and every email.
40% off TNW Conference!
We learned how difficult it was for home and small business owners to register their solar energy systems.
Eventually, one in seven installations in the market we served was registered on our platform.
So we developed a channel offering our service alongside their installation.
Sometimes, it took us a long time to listen.
But once we listened, we completed our business model and reached the scale to be profitable.
In these three different relationships, what we thought going in was very different from how our business evolved.
When youre building a startup, there is not a lot of margin for error.
Each piece that came together made the difference between success and failure.
So why is being vulnerable with your customers vital to your startups future?
Give out your email or WhatsApp so customers know they can talk to you.
Model this behavior in front of your team, however small or large.
Pay attention to negative feedback
Check your social media and online reviews, and investigate every complaint.
Those gripes are gifts, and theyre how your customers will teach you.
Pay attention for precisely those reasons.
Amplify the voice of your users
Dont stop with just talking to customersmake their voices heard.
Story byBrad Bowery
Brad focuses on VC and accelerator partnerships at Zendesk for Startups.
He is also a partner at Founders Den.Brad focuses on VC and accelerator partnerships at Zendesk for Startups.
He is also a partner at Founders Den.
