The #1 thing startups should be doing more is talking to their users. But most struggle to do it consistently, and with the right people.
Developing systems that ensure this happens naturally, has been a major focus of mine. Here's ours at Pilot:
Development Stages
- Every step, discovery, prototyping, UI testing, development, QA, should be driven by user feedback. It’s much cheaper to test a Figma prototype than to build out a feature that doesn’t work.
Why talk to users
⚠️ It’s called Research and Development for a reason. You can't build a great product without doing real research. This should be ongoing, not a blocker or a box to check. Focus on trying to INVALIDATE assumptions, not validate them. If you can't prove your hypothesis isn't right, it can justify building it further to find out.
🔎 This is part science, part art. Without talking to target users, you’ll be wrong at least 20% of the time. Imagine if 1 in 5 directions you followed were wrong—each wrong turn would take you further and further off course until you were completely lost.
💠I recommend the "double diamond" approach: (explanation below.) Go wide then deep on problems, then for solutions.
🙋♀️ Users can't tell you the best solution, but if you listen, will give you their underlying needs. (e.g. "I want faster horses" really means "I want to get to point A to point B without a horse stopping to rest every 30 miles")
Who to talk to
🎉 New Products: Your ICP (Ideal Client Persona).
👋 New Features: Your existing users, especially power users or those who churned due to missing features.
👍 Feature Improvements: Users who actively use the feature.
😓 General Usability: Non-technical users, like older individuals. If your grandma can use it, anyone can.
How to get people to talk with
📊 Track key in-app events (like shares or purchases) and log the relevant users in Slack. Reach out to them.
💌 Automate emails to new & returning users thanking them and asking for feedback, linking to Calendly.
📖 Keep a spreadsheet of all interviews, and log, per team member, who interviews who. This forms a group of users they can go back to.
🤔 Use tools like PostHog for automatic surveys, or Productboard to consolidate feedback across platforms.
🏴 Use feature flags to release to smaller groups first, comparing engagement against the old versions before rolling them out to everyone.
How to talk to them
Two methods:
💊 Investigative research: how you uncover high-importance problems for which low-satisfaction existing solutions are used ("under-served needs")
🩺 Diagnostic research: helps you improve on current designs and solutions.
✅ Good: Ask open-ended, non-leading questions like “What do you think this app does?” or “What would you expect to happen next?”
❌ Bad: Avoid leading with “Do you like this feature?” or “Would you use it?”
