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I'm sort of baffled in two ways here, because neither do I think this is necessarily a prerequisite to launching a successful business, nor do I think someone w

by moe 17y ago

I'm sort of baffled in two ways here, because neither do I think this is necessarily a prerequisite to launching a successful business, nor do I think someone who seriously needs that kind of advice has a snowball's chance in hell to actually create one... Either you have a strong vision and go for it no matter what, or you feel a need to validate and know the right questions to ask. No book can tell you the right questions for your particular product, nor how to interpret the answers. And for many products, especially the truly great ones, it doesn't even make sense to try and squeeze any kind of judgement out of potential customers. Can you imagine the google or twitter founders getting any useful feedback out of such a questionare? Everyone would just have told them to stop and get a real job at the time...

ehsanul 17y ago
And for many products ... it doesn't even make sense to try and squeeze any kind of judgement out of potential customers. Can't agree any more. Doing straight up market research through this "customer development" approach probably great for most products. But there are some things for which there is little precedent, things we would take for granted today and yet would have been, at best, ambivalent about when they were first being imagined. For example: A PC in every home. Few people would have bought into this when it was originally just Bill Gates' vision, in the way the whole world has bought into it now. The internet and the world wide web are similar in that respect. As are so many other things, and more waiting to be created - things nobody knows they want yet.
drusenko 17y ago
I couldn't disagree more. Maybe the pundits would have told them to go get a regular job, but the users were clearly very passionate, or they wouldn't have continued iterating and developing the product. Believe it or not, there were a ton of people who got very addicted to twttr when it first came out, and I'm absolutely positive that, without their feedback, the product wouldn't be the massive success it is today.
- debategrl1 17y ago
  i agree with you because the pundits should og told them to get a proper job on the other hand the product is a massive succes so really its 50/50

by moe 17y ago

ehsanul 17y ago

And for many products ... it doesn't even make sense to try and squeeze any kind of judgement out of potential customers. Can't agree any more. Doing straight up market research through this "customer development" approach probably great for most products. But there are some things for which there is little precedent, things we would take for granted today and yet would have been, at best, ambivalent about when they were first being imagined. For example: A PC in every home. Few people would have bought into this when it was originally just Bill Gates' vision, in the way the whole world has bought into it now. The internet and the world wide web are similar in that respect. As are so many other things, and more waiting to be created - things nobody knows they want yet.

drusenko 17y ago

I couldn't disagree more. Maybe the pundits would have told them to go get a regular job, but the users were clearly very passionate, or they wouldn't have continued iterating and developing the product. Believe it or not, there were a ton of people who got very addicted to twttr when it first came out, and I'm absolutely positive that, without their feedback, the product wouldn't be the massive success it is today.

debategrl1 17y ago
i agree with you because the pundits should og told them to get a proper job on the other hand the product is a massive succes so really its 50/50