How listening to our 4.1 million users inspired a new product idea
Years ago, I was waiting in line at a paddle sports shop.
People were renting kayaks and canoes and getting fitted for life jackets. It was a brilliant, sunny day and the air buzzed with excitement.
On the back wall, I noticed a framed print that read:
“We don’t sell boats. We sell time on the water.”
Clever — and true. People don’t desire products, they desire feelings that products give them.
Back at the rental shop, very few people care about hull design or reinforced resin paddles.
They want to soak up a summer afternoon. Spend time with people they love. Feel the warm breeze and stretch their desk-bound muscles.
Those two framed sentences stayed with me, and they reflect how I think about my company, JotForm:
We don’t provide online forms. We make organizations more productive.
It’s a deceptively small difference. After all, who cares about forms? I started the company 12 years…
