Hear everyone, listen to few, follow no one

5 things I’ve learned about feedback in my startup experience

1. Negative feedback is the best

Let’s be clear, with “negative” feedback I mean constructive criticism. If you are running a startup (or if you plan to) you don’t need pats on the back. Your business neither. You need to understand what’s wrong with your idea and how to fix it. As soon as possible.

2. You’ll get conflicting feedback

That’s inevitable. Investors, mentors, advisors, friends, family, customers. They all will give you feedback about your idea and your business from their point of view and based on personal experience. Most of the time their feedback will be conflicting. It’s your job to get the best from all of them.

3. The source matters

When you’re dealing with feedback (especially with conflicting ones) you need to remember who your interlocutor is. Of course, this is not the solution or, at least, not the only one. But it can help you to give the proper importance to any feedback. Be careful with “guru” and “experts”.

4. Hear everyone, listen to few, follow no one

As I said before you’ll get a lot of feedback, from a lot of sources, most of them will be conflicting. Well, the truth is that nobody has the magic bullet. You have to hear everyone but you should carefully evaluate and contextualize that feedback for your situation.

5. Always ask for feedback

You need feedback. You always will. It doesn’t matter what stage your idea is. Just make feedback discussion and evaluation part of your development process. Use the best channel for you and your users and don’t underestimate the power of a beer with a friend.

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