Whoever coined “the customer is always right” clearly never ran a startup. If we founders followed that gospel, our products would look like a Frankenstein stitched with random requests, sold at 90% discount, with lifetime free support, and still rated 2 stars on Google.
Let’s walk through the cycle, shall we?
Pre-launch market research.
Every guru screams, “Ask the customer what they want!”
But here’s the punchline: in B2C, your “research sample” is basically your neighbour, three college kids, and your mom pretending to be unbiased. Hardly the holy grail of statistically valid data.
Truth is, great startups are built on informed gut-feel, not Google Forms. That’s why disruption doesn’t come from surveys; it comes from visionaries who dare to ignore them.
Launch phase.
Customers love freebies. They’ll clap for your demo, download your app, and ghost you faster than a bad Tinder date.
The “traction” you brag about? Half of it is just people testing if your login works.
Early adopters matter, but only the ones who pay, stay, and slay with feedback.
Feedback loop.
Here’s where it gets comical. One customer says “add this feature,” another says “remove that feature.”
If you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one, except your development team’s therapist.
Filter feedback through your vision lens, not desperation goggles.
Feature creep & discounts.
Beware the two startup killers.
First, the “just one more feature” fanatics who want you to build a Swiss Army knife when all you need is a sharp blade.
Second, the discount hunters who treat your product like a bargain-bin soap – they’ll never be loyal, no matter how low you go.
The founder’s dilemma.
Say yes, you lose focus.
Say no, you risk churn. The trick?
Say yes to the right customers – the ones who get your disruption, not the ones who want you to build WhatsApp 2.0 for ?99/month.
Startups are not democracies; they’re benevolent dictatorships led by obsessed founders.
Customer voices matter, but not all voices deserve a vote.
So let’s rewrite the mantra:
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In corporates, the customer is always right.
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In startups, the right customer is always worth everything.
Because at the end of the day, startups aren’t about pleasing everyone.
They’re about creating something so good, so different, so disruptive that even the wrong customers eventually come around and say, “Wow, I didn’t even know I needed this.”
And that, dear founders, is the only validation that truly matters.
Remember, if Steve Jobs asked customers what they wanted, we’d still be using Nokia ringtones.