People First, Numbers Later (much much later) 👬👫👭

I came across this tweet by Lerer Hippeau Ventures literally 15 minutes before I sat down to write this piece.

It took me 15 minutes to start writing since I was walking in the snow. I rushed over to Starbucks to immediately pen this piece. I wasn’t planning to but I felt like I had to after reading that piece. ✍🏻

Here’s what Ben Lerer said about what kind of companies he invests in and why in the aforementioned piece —

I’ll tell you what works, and why I don’t pass. Philip [Krim, co-founder and CEO of Casper] had worked in the mattress business for 10 years. He didn’t just say, “The mattress business is big, and so we’re going to do that because it’s right for disruption.” For him, it was more like, “I’ve been in this world. I’ve seen the way customers get treated and make decisions, and this whole system is broken.”

Similarly, Warby Parker had its one-for-one model where for every pair of glasses purchased, they’d distribute a pair to someone in need. For the last four or five years, Neil [Blumenthal, co-CEO] had been working in the not-for-profit space around vision. It was real. It wasn’t Neil coming up with a trick hook — it was him saying, “There’s a real social issue here that I care passionately and deeply for and have been working in for years. Also, the fact that I pay $500 for my prescription glasses is a disgrace. There’s a great customer experience to fix here, but there’s a dominant monopolistic brand that controls pricing on a global scale. Modern customers shouldn’t have to be taken advantage of this way, and there’s an amazing cause that I’m deeply and personally passionate about that I’ve spent years working on that I think we can actually help achieve movement in.” It was all real, and, that comes through in how the brand treats its customers.

This struck a chord with me. 🎸 As a consumer and tech enthusiast, I LOVE being treated like a person. I love being treated with consideration and respect by the founders and employees of startups/companies whose products I use. Products I use might not be the best out there in terms of functionalities or prices.

But, they certainly are made, marketed, and sold by those that love their customers. And when there is an emotional relationship, I tend to become an evangelist.👌🏻

I strongly felt to write this piece because Ben Lerer’s words reminded me of an assignment I had for one of my courses at school. 🤓

I Snapchated ( and later tweeted ) about my assignment at the time of writing it. 👻

Here’s what I turned in —

In today’s world, there are both both legacy behemoths and overflowing supply of startups in every single industry. It is no longer just about a product or a service. It was all about merely a product that offers value/utility to customers in the era when Fords, Apples, IBMs and ATnT’s of various verticals were founded decades ago. And such incumbents did exceptionally well since the customers did not know better and were less demanding since there were virtually no alternatives. But, the product landscape has changed in 2016. Besides having a product with an easily identifiable value proposition, wide distribution system and defensible unit economics, companies, brands, executives and employees need to worry about a new aspect. This new aspect is “focus on customer” mindset. Or, in startup-y jargon, the user or customer experience. This aspect is no longer an add-on that complements the product. It is essentially a crucial part of the product. A “product” encompasses not just the sale but also the after-sale user experience that comes along with it. Companies can no longer stop pleasing their users right after the product has been shipped and payment has been received. I strongly believe that the “focus on customers” mindset is what differentiates a lot of companies from each other. If I, as a consumer who is looking for a product in a niche, have to choose between a phenomenal, fully-functional product and a little less phenomenal product with non-stop customer service, I will go with the latter. This is because customer service and experience determines how much a company cares about me as a person even after I have made the payment to them. It is crucial for me to know that I am being valued and treated like a human and not just some potential target on sales channels. “Focus on customer” mindset humanizes a product or a service. And as a consumer, I have the power to do so because there are so many great alternatives in every segment these days. Business is human, and that should never be forgotten.

Product Hunt and Buffer are two startups that I truly feel emotionally connected with because of their superior customer-oriented mindsets. They do not offer a ground-breaking product and there are various alternative services that I could use to satisfy my needs. They are so simple in functionality but so profound in how they think about customer service. Buffer has a “Customer Happiness team” that will do anything they can to make me happy. Whenever I have a question or issue within their mobile app, I email or tweet at them. And I get a delightful response within few minutes for the most part. The messages are so personalized and are signed off by the person who is manning their twitter account at the time. Ryan Hoover and Joel Gascoigne, CEOs of Product Hunt and Buffer respectively, have engaged with me so many times on twitter. And, in order to provide the best user experience, transparency and customer engagement, the CEOs blogs regularly to update all their customers/evangelists about their long-term vision, inner workings, internal culture, etc. Through mind-blowing engagement with users on Twitter & Snapchat ( and Peach ), Product Hunt has amassed a huge number of very loyal users and has created such a positive community around its brand. Users have been so loyal — enough write blog posts about their experiences, build products and suggest features that benefit the core product — actions that enhance its value to the entire community. Both these companies do not fail to delight their potential and current users on a daily basis. “Delight” is a necessary attribute of a company’s brand these days. A small instance of what I am talking about can be seen in this tweet thread. These companies care about me and they go out of their way to please me and delight me and that makes me want to care about them and their growth.

A “people-oriented” mindset is all I look for. I am VERY against being treated like a number on the right side of Profit & Loss statements of companies. I am a person. Treat me like one.

I tend to evangelize the products and services that are “human”. And try to help and add value by giving feedback. Here are some instances —

( If you go to their Twitter profile, almost every other tweet on it is by me )

( Nuzzel’s CEO Jonathan Abrams engages with me regularly on Twitter. ) 😀

Yes, I do not have a large following on social media. So, my tweets do not reach a ton of people. But, I don’t think thats the point. The point I am trying to make is companies that treat customers like people will amass a large, loyal tribe of evangelists. Intent matters, as Gary Vaynerchuk says. 😜

And I think many investors would agree with me. I was listening to Mark Suster’s podcast today. 🗣 He was speaking with Matt Mazzeo, who works at Lowercase Capital with Chris Sacca. They talked about how both of them try their best to get to know the founders before they dive into presentations, metrics, business models and pitches.

Business is Human. Its run by humans for humans. Lets not forget that. People first, Numbers later. Profits later. Revenue later. Fancy stock jargon later. People first. Period.