How founders refine customer experience

Yesterday, a 15-minute user call saved us weeks of wrong assumptions. We've been tracking usage on one of our core features, and the data looked great. High adoption, consistent engagement, and users seemed to love it. But watching this customer navigate the interface in real-time told a completely different story. They clicked everywhere except where we expected. Asked questions that revealed our "intuitive" design was anything but. What we thought was a seamless user flow was actually a series of lucky guesses on their part. This happens more than we'd like to admit. When you're in the early stages, every sales call is a product discovery session by necessity. Prospects push back, ask hard questions, and force you to defend every feature choice. The friction is painful but incredibly valuable. As your product matures and sales conversations get smoother, you lose that natural feedback loop. Deals close faster, but you start flying blind on user experience. The mistake? Assuming smooth sales equals a perfect product. We've made it a rule: regardless of our revenue or product maturity, the founder in charge of product joins customer calls every week. Not to sell, but to watch and listen. Yesterday's call led to three UX improvements we're shipping this week. Small changes that will likely impact activation rates more than the major feature we spent last month building. The most successful founders I know never outgrow customer discovery calls. They understand that building the perfect feature is hard, but nailing intuitive UX is infinitely harder. You can have the most sophisticated product in the world, but if users can't figure out how to get value from it, your retention metrics will tell the real story. How often are you still talking directly to your users?

Founders often say they don't do research. "I don't have time for that." "I know my users so I don't need it." But if you do any of these things, you're already participating in research:   1/ You read customer support tickets You're identifying patterns in pain points and understanding where your product is falling short   2/ You listen to Gong calls You're gathering insights on what resonates with your ICP and what objections keep coming up   3/ You check your product analytics You're tracking user behavior to understand what features drive engagement and where people drop off   4/ You A/B test your pricing page You're testing hypotheses about what messaging converts better with your audience   5/ You send out NPS surveys You're measuring customer satisfaction and identifying promoters versus detractors   6/ You run beta programs You're validating product concepts before you scale them to your full user base   7/ You ask "why did you choose us?" You're uncovering the jobs-to-be-done that your product fulfills for customers   8/ You track churn and interview people who leave You're understanding what drives customers away so you can fix it   9/ You read competitor reviews You're mapping where the market has gaps and where you can differentiate   10/ You prototype before you build You're validating demand and testing assumptions about what users actually need   11/ You check which email subject lines get opened You're experimenting with messaging that resonates with your audience   12/ You monitor what features get requested most You're prioritizing your roadmap based on patterns in customer demand   13/ You ask customers for testimonials You're discovering what value they're actually getting from your product in their own words   14/ You test landing page variations You're optimizing how you communicate value to drive conversions   15/ You have regular check-ins with your ICP You're building continuous feedback loops to stay connected to how their needs evolve   Even if you don't think of it as conducting research, you can consider it an exercise in building empathy. 

Users judge your product in 50 milliseconds. At Microsoft & Instacart, I learned 60% never return. Here's the psychology that changed everything: I call it the "Kleenex User principle": Just like you can't un-use a tissue, users can't un-experience your product. That first interaction permanently shapes their perception. Most founders obsess over perfect features and slick designs. Meanwhile, they hemorrhage users in the first 5 minutes. The real cost isn't just lost customers: • Wasted marketing dollars • Skyrocketing acquisition costs • Dead word-of-mouth • Zero network effects After thousands of user tests, I developed the "Success Roadmap": 1. Immediate win (30 seconds) 2. Core value demo (2 minutes) 3. Future potential (5 minutes) Most founders overwhelm users immediately. It's like teaching swimming by throwing someone in the ocean. Instead, here's what works: • Start with ONE thing • Make it impossibly easy • Let them taste success • Build complexity gradually We tested this at Instacart: We simplified first-time ordering to 3 clicks. Users got their first "win" in seconds. The psychology created: • Instant dopamine hit • Boosted confidence • Natural exploration • 40% higher retention But here's the game-changer: First-time users are your gold mine - they see your product with fresh eyes. Build a rapid feedback loop: • Watch new users like a hawk • Note every hesitation • Fix friction instantly • Test again • Repeat A bad first impression doesn't just cost one user. It costs their entire network of potential customers. Get it right? You build a viral growth engine. — Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Kevin Henrikson for more. Weekly frameworks on AI, startups, leadership, and scaling. Join 1300+ subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/gSjjvzt9

What Tech Founders Often Overlook While Building Consumer Apps The hardest part of building consumer products isn’t features. It's the focus. In the early days of Bachatt, we kept asking ourselves. How do we make saving feel like a natural daily action, not another financial task? The instinct as a founder is to show more. More features, more nudges, more layers of “value.” But what often gets overlooked is this: People don’t want to use your app. They want to solve their problem and leave. Here’s what I’ve learned (and re-learned): A smoother experience isn’t created by adding more. It comes from removing the unnecessary. Onboarding is not a checklist. It’s a trust-building journey. Metrics like “time spent” don’t always reflect product success. Sometimes, the best products get out of the way quickly. We redesigned our SIP flow 4 times. Each time, we removed a step. And with each reduction, completion rates went up. The real magic isn’t in complex algorithms. It’s in subtle decisions where to place that one button, what not to ask the user, when to stay silent. If you’re building a product that expects daily usage, design for predictability, not novelty. Because users don’t come back for delight. They come back for ease. #ProductDesign #Bachatt #ConsumerTech #UXThinking #TechFounderInsights #BuildWithIntent #DailySavingsApp #FintechIndia #LinkedInNewsIndia

Are you seeing your customer delight shrinking as your business grows? 🤔 Here's a hard truth most business owners don’t like to hear: The bigger your company gets, the harder it becomes to deliver that extra-mile service. You know, the one that made customers rave about you in the first place. And yet, this is the most perfect time to double down on delight! 🚀 📢 So why is this important now? As you scale, processes naturally become streamlined, and in the race for efficiency, the human touch often gets lost. Suddenly, what was once personal feels generic, and loyal customers begin to feel like just another number. In a world where customer expectations are constantly evolving, growth doesn’t mean you can afford to drop the ball on delight. Ignore this, and you’re left with dissatisfied customers, higher churn rates, and an all-too-common fate—losing the very customers that built your success. There is a method to delivering customer delight at scale. Here are five elements from that method for you to implement: 1️⃣ Create "Micro-Moments" That Matter: Whether it’s a personalized thank-you message or remembering a customer’s previous preferences, these small, thoughtful gestures scale surprisingly well. Make each interaction count. 2️⃣ Empower Your Frontline Teams: The best customer experiences are delivered by teams who feel empowered to solve problems without red tape. Give them the autonomy to delight customers without needing approval every step of the way. 3️⃣ Use Technology to Enhance, Not Replace, Human Connection: Invest in tools that help your team get smarter about customer preferences but don’t rely on automation alone. Customers can feel when the personal touch is gone. 4️⃣ Stay Nimble with Feedback: As you scale, the feedback loop becomes more important, not less. Build processes that ensure you’re continually learning from your customers, and be ready to pivot quickly based on that feedback. 5️⃣ Measure What Really Matters—Customer Happiness: Metrics like revenue and efficiency are important, but they’re not the whole picture. Make customer delight a key performance indicator in your growth strategy, and hold teams accountable to it. Long story short - TL; DR👇 You don’t have to choose between growth and delight. The two can and should go hand-in-hand if you want to create fans, not just customers. But the magic happens when you’re intentional about scaling those personal touches that set you apart in the first place. P.S. So, here’s my challenge to you: What ONE thing can you start doing TODAY to reintroduce delight into your customer experience as you scale? Drop it in the comments or send me a message. Let’s talk about how you can keep delight alive, no matter how big you grow. #CustomerExperience #CX #CustomerCentricity #BusinessGrowth #Leadership #VinayPushpakaran

Founder: "Trust me, I know what my customers want."  Me: "Are you sure about that?" 🤔 I've helped 50+ founders with hundreds of customer interviews. The painful truth: the qualities that make you a great founder also make you terrible at customer interviews. Here's why: To pitch confidently, move fast, and solve problems, you need to be the expert. But great customer interviews require a beginner's mindset. Here's what actually works: 1. Become the student 📚 Every instinct will tell you to demonstrate expertise. Fight it. Your job isn't to prove you understand their problem or pitch your solution. Your job is to learn. Approach each conversation with genuine curiosity about their world, their challenges, and their attempts at solutions. 2. Master strategic silence 🤫 Most founders fill every pause to maintain momentum. Embrace silence instead. Wait 3 seconds when they finish talking. This is when people share their deepest insights, the things they weren't sure were "relevant" but reveal their true pain points. 3. Don't ask "would you use X?" Instead, ask: 🎯 -  "Tell me about the last time you encountered this problem..." -  "Walk me through how you currently handle this..." -  "What solutions have you already tried?" Then probe deeper: -  "Why did you try that first?" -  "What made that approach frustrating?" 4. Hunt for action-driving emotional triggers: 🔍 💰 "When was the last time this problem cost you money?" ⚡ "What finally made you start looking for a solution?" ⏰ "Where do you find yourself wasting the most time?" The moment you think you know your customers is the moment you stop learning from them.

Most founders think they know their customers. Then they actually talk to them. What founders assume: • 'Our customers love feature X because our usage data shows...' • 'They choose us because we're faster/cheaper/better than competitors.' • 'They're frustrated with Y, so we should build Z.' What customers actually say: • 'I use feature X for something completely different than what you built it for.' • 'I choose you because of how your support team makes me feel.' • 'The thing that frustrates me most isn't even on your roadmap.' The gap between data and conversation: • Data tells you what happened. • Conversations tell you why it happened. • Data shows you patterns. • Conversations reveal motivations. • Data helps you optimize. • Conversations help you innovate. The customer conversation that changed everything: I was working with a SaaS founder who was convinced customers wanted more features. The usage data supported this - people kept asking for new functionality. One conversation revealed the truth: 'We're not asking for more features because we need them. We're asking because we can't figure out how to use what you already built to solve our actual problem.' The pivot: Instead of building more features, they redesigned onboarding. Customer satisfaction went up 40%. Churn went down 25%. Feature requests went down 60%. The framework that works: • Monthly customer conversations. • Not surveys. Not feedback forms. Real conversations about their world, their challenges, their definitions of success. You can't get this insight from analytics. What assumption about your customers would change if you actually talked to them this week?"

The fastest way to grow to speak directly to the people who matter. The biggest mistake I see founders make is this: they build a brand that makes sense to them. The language is sharp. The story feels clever. The pitch sounds intelligent, at least in their own head. But here’s the truth: if your customer doesn’t understand it instantly, it doesn’t matter how smart it sounds. The best brands don’t sound clever. They sound clear. So how do you build a brand that speaks to the customer, not just the founder? Here are five practical steps: → Define your audience with precision. Don’t say “we serve SMBs.” Say “we help SaaS founders at $5–50M revenue who are stuck scaling.” Specificity sharpens clarity. →Use their language, not yours. Skip jargon. Listen to how your customers describe their problems. Steal their words. Reflect them back. That’s how they feel understood. →Lead with the problem, not the product. Customers care about their pain, not your features. State the problem in a way that makes them nod. Then show how you solve it. →Simplify until it feels almost too obvious. If a 10-year-old couldn’t explain your brand back to you, it’s still too complicated. Clarity beats clever every time. →Test in the wild. Don’t ask your team if the message makes sense. Ask your customers. If they repeat it back clearly, you’ve nailed it. The goal isn’t to sound smart. It’s to be understood. Because when customers see themselves in your brand, they don’t just understand it, they trust it. Something to reflect on: What’s one piece of jargon your customers never use, but your brand still does?

Early-stage progress is rarely linear. It's messy. You test, learn, adjust, and repeat until the pull of demand starts to take hold. I hear this from nearly every founder and CEO I talk to on my podcast. Here are 10 lessons for founders pushing from $0 to $1M in revenue: 1 - Trust your intuition on the problem, but sharpen it by stress-testing it with real-world data. 2 - Immerse yourself in the customer’s world - not just to validate, but also to invalidate your assumptions. Seek out the “unknown unknowns.” 3 - Use early sales to learn how customers buy, not just whether they’ll buy. 4 - Figure out your product’s “insertion point.” Where in your customer's tech stack can you plug in a way that minimizes disruption and and delivers maximum value? 5 - Look for concrete, measurable feedback from users. If it doesn’t save time or money, it’s probably a “nice-to-have.” Keep iterating until the value is undeniable. 6 - Separate your buyer persona from your end user. In a startup, they’re often the same person. In a large enterprise, the buyer is a C-suite exec while the user is several levels down the org chart. Your job is to serve both. 7 - Don’t chase edge cases. Focus on one clear use case where you win easily and expand from there. 8 - Make your product as easy to adopt as possible - reduce the time, effort, and coordination it takes for customers to see the value. 9 - Anchor your messaging in customer outcomes. Speak to what success looks like for them. 10 - Look at your own data - usage, churn, conversions. When it tells a different story than your instincts, pay attention. Contradictions often teach you more than confirmation. Most importantly: being wrong sometimes is expected; being uninformed about your customers isn’t. Talk to as many potential customers as you can... and really listen. That’s how demand finds you.

I talked to a founder who made me rethink our entire Q4 roadmap with just one question. Most founders walk into customer meetings asking "how do you like our product?" Then they wonder why they only get surface-level feedback. When we visited Pirate Wires in SF, I asked something different: "What are the most important problems you're trying to solve right now?" Michael Solana didn't talk about features. He talked about managing 40 writers across 15 states. The nightmare of 40 different tax agencies. Keeping his media company running while scaling fast. That's when I realized Warp could be worth 10x more to them than I thought. I asked our other Series A customers the same question. Every single one said: "Hiring 20 roles in the next 90 days." That one insight completely changed our Q4 roadmap. The companies that win don't just solve the problem they set out to solve. They understand the entire universe of pain their customers live in. Y Combinator tells everyone to talk to users. But almost nobody does it right. They're too busy validating what they already built instead of discovering what they should build next. Start with your customers' world first. Their goals. Their challenges. Their priorities. Then ask where your product fits. Not the other way around. The best product insights come from questions that have nothing to do with your product.