Secrets You Can Learn From Your Customers

Seibel and Caldwell say founders often begin with confidence that they understand the customer and the solution. As the company develops, founders need to recognize what they do not know and learn from the people they serve.

Airbnb founders visited hosts to take better property photos, even though the hosts could use those photos on other sites and the visits cost money. One host invited them for coffee and shared notes from ten years of renting his apartment. Seibel says that level of insight came from caring about one person, not from casually speaking with many hosts.

Brex’s early virtual reality idea was a poor fit for the founders’ experience. After shifting toward financial products, they spoke with founders in their YC batch, including people who could not get credit cards because they were young or lacked U.S. credit history. By working closely with those customers, they learned what to build and could ship quickly.

At Justin.tv, the relationship with users was complicated by copyright and moderation problems. Emmett and Kevin began calling StarCraft II streamers, who asked for higher video quality and help earning money. The team quickly raised bitrate and began sending some streamers checks, including checks for about $20 a month. Those conversations helped reveal that streamers could create popular content if they could earn a living.

Seibel and Caldwell connect all three examples to founders spending time with customers themselves. They argue that more funding and more organizational layers do not automatically produce better customer insight. One-on-one conversations and practical help can make customers feel valued and surface problems quickly.