#13 What's is product discovery and what tools do I need?
QUICK BLURB:
Since stepping into startup world and spending like 25 hours plus weekly learning and executing I have been trying to really understand what are the crucial first steps you need to give you the best start. I haven’t operated at scale or been through the coveted growth stage but I’ve felt what trying to get things off the ground feels like. Whilst I have had some small successes along the way I firmly believe if you want to get it right you need a better start.
Socionics describe me as a deep thinker, which explains why I always try to understand things. Not everyone is like that - some people are natural hustlers, some just fake it till they make it and some people can network with anyone. For me its very simple, I definitely love the excitement of new ideas.
I’m starting to work with early teams to help them identify the value they can deliver to their potential customers.
“It is our ability to serve potential customers better than anyone else in the market that will help us win”
It’s deep because you have to be really ready to own the problem space and form an educated hypothesis, experiment and measure the results.
Let's Build Great Products
What is product discovery and what tools can I use to test my ideas now?
RECOMMENDED READ: As much as I would love to give you the deep piece here. If you’re building or looking to build products and what you’ve delivered isn’t really getting you the outcome you want. Consider reading this.
Startup Playbook
by Sam Altman of Y Combinator
Early stages of building products.
The Guide to Empathy Maps
Starting with a deep understanding of our customers means that as we go through the Build-Measure-Learn loop we are not making wild guesses.
How to Run an Empathy & User Journey Mapping Workshop
This article will teach you two popular design workshop techniques: empathy mapping and user journey mapping. Empathy mapping is a way to characterise your target users in order to make effective…
From Me To You Links & News
Why isn't Soundcloud giving it's users what they want?
When I read Soundcloud’s woes it really just sounds like the car you’re stuck with but will change the first chance you get.
What’s sad is that most users are willing to accept a sub-standard product in hope that it will get better over time. As an underground Grime/alternative-hip hop fan, I just like the fact that on Soundcloud I could potentially hear bars, expression and soulful music that isn’t incentivised for what’s popping at the moment.
Listeners & Creators
What I described above is my personal experience as a Listener i.e. Help me get lost in music [I’d never heard of or haven’t heard].
From its Creators, I have been able to identify
a) People who want a place that allows them to get their content out to many people
b) DJ’s who want to test their mixes and get live feedback
The second might be harder to address because much of the copyrighted content was pulled down against the will of the creator.
It’s kind of mad because those who built the platform felt like Soundcloud stopped listening to their needs
Even if you’ve heard it’s a monetisation problem the founders need to explore exit strategies
Helpful Tool(s)
Learn Scrum & Agile on Mobile
This is a really cool way to learn Scrum practises especially if you’re new to it.
I focus on the outcomes we seek to deliver so I’m not dogmatic about it in any way.
I’ve used this app and no I am not affiliated but wanted to share something that was lightweight.