Speak like a local: How startups can get to know their customers
When he was running Y Combinator, Paul Graham used to joke that his job was to tell founders things they would ignore. My role at H2 Ventures feels much the same. Day in day out I caution them as to the the mistakes they are about to make and then watch as they go ahead and make them.
I don’t mind mistakes though, and neither should founders. They snap us out of the delusion that the way we were doing it was the best way or worse, the only way. Mistakes are also too often followed by a period of unproductive regret when they should be cause for quiet celebration, after all they help us absorb the truth real quick.
But there is one thing that founders should and do regret; not getting to know their customers well enough. I’m not talking about validating a specific product or idea, but rather the step before that which enables you to extract real insight from your customers. I’m talking about getting yourself to the point where you can talk to and about your customers as if you were one of them. Speak like a local, if you will.
Startups who try to shortcut this process (or avoid it all together) will inevitably lose their way as they build things based on imagined or totally unrelated insights. Remember that company who decided that because people would share cars that they would also share umbrellas? They lost 300,000 brollies in 3 weeks. What, I ask you, is the point?
Even the founders who are domain experts or those who are solving their own problem, can get lazy when it comes to their customers. In 2018 industries and the needs of people in them are changing so fast, that even (and in fact especially) the experts need to keep up.
So how to speak like a local, or in this case customer? Well, ask any language teacher and they will tell you the same thing; travel to the country, learn the traditions.
When I went to Madrid for the first time in 2005 I was supposed to stay for a month. I figured that would be plenty of time to get fluent. I didn’t leave until 2009. For the first 6 months I didn’t understand a word of what anyone said. I found it hard to make friends, and felt embarrassed pretty much all of the time. But I listened intently, asked a heap of questions and most importantly surrounded myself with non-english speaking Spaniards. After 9 months, I was dreaming in Spanish.
Was it difficult? Yup. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I can now communicate with a whole new group of people I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Heck I even ended up marrying a Mexican. Importantly I am now able to read between the lines (critical when talking to your customers). Now I know that when a Spanish person says “fresa” they mean a strawberry. But when a Mexican says the same thing they’re making fun of someone for dressing preppy. I can sympathise with Colombians over football and discuss politics with Venezuelans all of which is to say, I can more easily connect with them.
My approach to language has always been that every minute you spend interacting with native speakers is equivalent to 10 minutes of hiding at home behind a dictionary.
As an early stage founder, how much time do you actually spend interacting with your customers? During customer interviews, how many of the minutes do you spend talking as opposed to listening? Whatever it is, I bet my bottom dollar it’s not enough to really test your understanding of the problem and therefore the solution.
I reckon if founders approached their customers with a similar attitude they might just arrive at product market fit that much faster. It will also make your story, pitch and sales deck that much more convincing. Investors want to know that you know your customer, and customers want you to be able to speak their language.
The bottom line is that the most effective way to learn something is to get in there and give it a go. So the next time you find yourself wondering what your customer wants and how you’re going to give it to them, find out where they hang out and move there. It’s the only way you’ll learn to speak their language.
