Talk to your customers.
#4 • Stories & Lessons of Founding Baron Fig
“Hundreds.” I was in my Queens apartment, sitting on my decade old couch, talking to a friend. “We need to get in touch with hundreds of thinkers around the world.”
“Like, through an email blast?” she asked.
“No. We’re going to take the time to get to know each person. We’re going to have real conversations.”
“That’s a lot of work,” she said.
I was talking fast and throwing my arms in all directions. “If we want them to spend time on us, we need to spend time on them. We’re going send individualized emails and ask one question.”
That one simple question is now infamous in my circle of friends. I must’ve said it a thousand times: What do you like in a sketchbook or notebook?
We searched high and low for designers, illustrators, writers, musicians, entrepreneurs — anyone who used a notebook to create as part of their professional or personal life. We ended up sending emails to over five hundred thinkers around the world.
The response was tremendous. We were sending cold emails with a reply rate over 80%. I couldn’t believe it — I originally guessed we’d get only around 20%. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who felt like something was missing in the notebook market.
Hundreds of email correspondences confirmed a lot of what we were looking to fix. They also revealed new pain points we didn’t think of, and helped us find solutions for them.
Ultimately we honed in on a set of features that resonated the most. Our flagship notebook, the Confidant, had to open flat, be small enough to carry around but big enough to work in all day long, have plenty of pages, be filled with quality paper, and have three versatile page types that could be used by all different kinds of thinkers: blank, ruled, and dot grid.
During the process we received scores of emails encouraging us, making jokes, people being just plain awesome.
It’s easy to forget that we’re not in this alone. Our customers are our allies. I love every opportunity I get to talk to Baron Fig users — there’s always something to be learned — and it’s the greatest feeling in the world knowing the work I do matters to my fellow human beings.
Joey Cofone is Co-Founder & CEO at Baron Fig. The Founding of Baron Fig shares the stories and lessons learned on the journey of creating our startup.
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