Far too often, however, startups tend to look at target audiences as one amorphous group that has the same characteristics, needs and interests.

The problem with a one-size-fits-all approach is while “the customer” may appear to be the same, they may actually break down into several target segments with slightly differently needs and interests.

A startup’s product may serve all customer segments but the messaging to reach them can’t be the same. What works well for one group, may not resonate with another.

To get a better handle on your customer segments, a valuable exercise is persona creation.

This involves discovering and drilling down into the different types of potential buyers. It means answering questions such as:

• How old are they?
• What are their specific needs and interests?
• Where do they discover information about your products?
• What would solve their problems or make them successful?
• How would they look like a hero to their boss?

In creating personas, startups may discover there are several distinct groups of customers. As a result, the startup may have to change its marketing and sales strategy and tactics to effectively pursue them.

This scenario happened with a client recently that was targeting social media managers. In creating personas, it became apparent that while social media managers were a target audience, other customer segments included digital marketers and chief marketing officers and PR/digital agencies.

Each of these customers could be served by the product but their needs and goals were different. It became obvious that having a single marketing and sales approach wasn’t going to work well.

So how are personas created?

It begins with being open to the idea there are different kinds of customers. Then, each customer has to be personalized. The easiest way is giving each of them a name, and then layering on characteristics such as age, job title, experience and responsibilities.

Let’s look at a small business owner looking for accounting products. One customer could be “Mary”, who runs a 10-person small business. Mary does her own accounting using Excel but needs accounting software to accommodate growth.

Another group could be “John”, who handles accounting and HR for a 25-person business with $5-million in sales. John is using basic accounting software but needs something more powerful and able to integrate with the company’s CRM system.

Mary and John could use the same accounting software but their needs are different. It means the messaging has to be personalized rather than generalized.

For startups, the big challenge is having a balance between having corporate messaging that embraces different types of customers and, at the same time, being able to speak to these customers in different ways.

The creation of personas is not only important but it could reveal surprising and valuable insight to jump-start your marketing and sales efforts.

There are many ways to create personas, including an online service called personapp.

Pebble is the lead story in the newest edition of “This Week in Canadian Startups”. There is also two items about incubators: a Financial Post suggesting incubators are failing because they don’t spawn enough successful startups, while Mark MacLeod counters that incubators are doing a great job of nurturing entrepreneurs.

To get “This Week in Canadian Startups” in your inbox every Saturday morning, all you need to do is subscribe.

There are a couple of reasons why this is the case. First, good stories are interesting, attractive and compelling. Second, brands will need to become better storytellers as content marketing becomes table stakes. When everyone’s telling stories, you need to be better at it to rise above the crowd – something we’re seeing in social media.

So, how do brands tell good stories?

It starts by being customer-centric, which means looking at what the customer wants to read, listen and watch as opposed to what a brands want to tell them. It’s a slightly differently perspective but surprisingly difficult for many brands who think that consumers like it when they babble on about features.

Truth be told, consumers really don’t care about your products, other than whether they help make their lives better, easier, more profitable, etc. There are many choices for consumers who can pick from products offering  the same features.

What consumers want is how you’re going to help them. What are the most biggest benefits of using your product? Mint, for example, helps the consumer “understand what’s going on with your money”. Freshbooks “makes billing painless”. WattPad helps you “connect with stories”.

For good storytelling to happen, it starts by taking an inside out perspective. Then, brands can begin to create narratives that are engaging and add value.

Once a brand embraces this approach, they can start to create content that resonates. Depending on the target audiences, it could be blog posts, videos, case studies, white papers, e-books or slide decks. And, of course, brands need a Website that tells an easy to understand story with clear benefits and calls to action.

Not not all content has to be dramatic or have a bad guy or hero. But it should be accessible and engaging in some way, and easily flow so it doesn’t feel like work. Some of it has to do with good writing and video production, and some of it has to do with design and production quality.

There are a few other considerations for good storytelling.

One, you need an editorial strategy that takes into account a company’s goals and objectives (e.g. drive leads and sales), the resources and budget, and how much content the target audiences are willing to consume.

Second, brands need a realistic tactical execution plan that lets them create a steady flow of content that makes storytelling a persistent and sustainable part of how the business operates. It makes no sense to come out of the gate swinging, and then lose your storytelling enthusiasm.

Third, brands can never lose sight of the fact people like stories. And, like children, they will read the same story over and over again if the stories are interesting and compelling.

For more thoughts, here’s a blog post by David Meerman Scott. For people attending the mesh conference, Knock Twice’s Kyle Monson will be doing a keynote presentation about brand journalism on May 16.

The author, Clifford Oxford, opined that consultants should mostly be kept away:

“This is the human factor of growth, and quite frankly, most consultants contaminate the whole place. Keep them out of this part of the business. Think about snakes in a wood pile. In fact, go back and find that 10-foot pole and grow without them.”

As a consultant who provides marketing services to startups, I think Oxford is wrong because it doesn’t reflect the value that consultants can offer at the right time for the right price.

One of the crucial considerations for startups, especially early-stage ones, is they need to be strategic and selective about how they spend money. There are parts of the business that demand a full-time employee because they’re core to the company’s operations. At the same time, there is a lot of stuff that needs to get done but doesn’t necessarily need a full-time, part-time or contract employee.

Instead, a startup can look to a consultant to fill an important gap on a project basis to achieve a key deliverable or milestone. In hiring a consultant (or hired gun), the startup can tap into someone’s experience, expertise and network to get exactly what it needs when it’s needed. It does not have to be a long-term or expensive relationship but it can provide both parties with what they need.

So when should a consultant be hired by a startup?

For many startups, the interest in a consultant begins when they have a problem to solve or a task that has to get done. At this point, they can try to have someone internally do it or look to hire someone if the position needs to be filled right away. Another option is finding someone (aka a consultant) who can come in for a set period of time (let’s say one to six months) to provide strategy and tactical assistance.

The key is determining what kind of help is needed, and then finding someone who has the experience and track record to fill that need. And you have to find someone who shares your values, passion and vision. That’s the first big step.

Next, a startup has to find a consultant who thinks strategically and performs tactically. A startup does not, under any circumstances, need a consultant who puts together fancy strategic recommendations, and then leaves the startup to execute. To me, that’s a half-ass job that provides little value, and gives consultants a bad name.

Third, a consultant needs to drink the Kool-Aid. While they don’t work for the startup, they need to feel like they’re part of the team, even if it’s for a short period of time. As well, the startup has to feel and know the consultant has a vested interest in their success, not just getting paid for consulting services.

So what about fees?

The image of consultants is they’re blood-sucking, money-hungry wolves. That may be true for some but it’s a sweeping generalization. A good consultant who wants to work with your startup should recognize the budget limitations and accept the reality that working for reasonable fees is part of the opportunity cost.

If a consultant wants to make large hourly rates, they should work for a big corporation. If they want to work with startups, they need to take a different approach – one that takes into account a startup’s potential and the buzz around their business and sector.

Truth be told, it can be hard for a startup to hire a consultant who meets the above criteria. The reality, however, is there are a lot of good consultants who can meet the needs of startups and, in the process, deliver a win-win proposition.

It’s a difficult to answer question to answer because many startups think that anything spent on marketing is a challenge to justify, whether it’s $100/month for a digital tool or $25,000 for an extensive media and blogger outreach program.

The reality is most startups see marketing as a luxury or something that solves a point of pain, rather than a need-to-have or an exercise that has solid ROI. As a result, establishing a marketing budget can be a daunting exercise.

The easy answer is how much to spending on marketing is do more than nothing. Every part of a startup requires an investment in time, money and/or people, so spending on marketing is a no-brainer.

So how much makes sense?

This depends on a number of variables based on your budgets, objectives, target audiences and where your startups sits within the growth cycle.

For early-stage startups with limited resources, a reasonable budget could be $250 to $1,000/month. This would involve using a handful of free tools such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite for social media monitoring and publishing, social media services (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and Website optimization tools such as Kissmetrics, MixPanel or SEOMoz.

A budget of this size doesn’t involve having a part-time or full-time marketing person but it  provides ground cover and establishes a solid marketing foundation that can be built upon as growth accelerates and a marketing plans expand.

Over time, the marketing budget can expand to $1,000 to $10,000/month by adding  a part-time or full-time marketing person to handle social media and create content for blogs, case studies, white papers, press releases and marketing and sales collateral. This kind of budget lets a startup use premium services such as Hubspot or InfusionSoft. And it may accommodate having a PR agency on a project basis or on a small retainer, although I’m not a fan of early-stage startups having monthly retainers for PR.

As a startup accelerates it growth and begins to drive brand and product awareness, it is not unreasonable to be spending $10,000 to $25,000/month on marketing. At this stage, a startup has expanded its marketing team to two or three people, it is aggressively leveraging social media and content marketing, it’s sending people to conferences and perhaps sponsoring key events, and it has a solid media and blogger outreach program.

As much as spending money on marketing can be difficult for a startup to grasp and make happen, marketing is a key and necessary part of running a business. If customers don’t know you exist or understand what you do, it goes a long way to undermine the growth and success of your business.

It can be intimidating to have another startup with a strong foothold, not only with customers but in terms of awareness and media/blog coverage. It can look like an uphill battle in which a fledgling startup is scrambling to gain traction and credibility.

So, what does it take for a startup (aka David) to battle a Goliath, even if the Goliath is another startup?

At a high level, it means taking a different approach that can separate a new startup from the pack in some way. It could be better design, UI, UX, customer service, marketing or pricing (although pricing is a short-cut). It could be a matter of being more creative, flexible, agile or opportunistic.

One of the realities for many market leaders is the danger of complacency. With large market share and a strong brand presence, it can be easy to lose your competitive edge. This can open a window of opportunity for new player to move quickly to move the ball forward. The wins may be small but as long as they keep coming, they add up over time.

The most important thing for “David” startups is recognizing that having a good product at the right price isn’t nearly good enough. It gets you in the game but it’s table stakes. To battle Goliath, you need to be better, faster, more user-friendly and flexible.

At the end of the day, it could see David become a strong player but still be a David.  This isn’t a bad thing because it means you have a viable business that always has the potential to close the gap if Goliath stumbles, loses its competitive focus or stops improving and evolving its products.

The bottom line is not to be daunted or afraid of Goliath. Instead, focus on what you do best and then make it a mandate to do even better.

The latest chapter of mesh happens on May 15 & 16 at the Allstream Centre in Toronto. In many respects, this year’s speakers and topic ranks among the best we’ve had. The biggest reason is there’s a great mix of speakers who will discuss how the Web continues to be a disruptive and innovative force, and panels and workshops designed to educate and upgrade your skills so you can work better or differently.

Whether you want to be inspired or informed, mesh delivers.

We kick things off with keynotes by Treehouse’s Ryan Carson, who will talk about education is being delivered and consumed, and the Nieman Journalism Labs’ Josh Benton on how evolution of media. Then, we’ll get into sessions on the Web’s impact on books,  brain fitness, design, politics and television.

On day two, JP Rangaswami (Salesforce.com’s chief scientist) will discuss how the Web is changing how we work, and Kyle Munsun will talk about the rise of brand journalism. After that, we’ll have panels looking at the future of money, travel and HR, as well  as workshops on content marketing, social media optimization and digital advertising.

On day two, we also have a mini-startup stream featuring a panel of entrepreneurs talking about the YCominbator program, and a panel of VCs looking at the financing landscape.

While I’m biased, mesh is a great opportunity to expand your horizon and get insight about the specific things that impact your personal and professional lives. In some respects, mesh is like going to a buffet as opposed to having a big helping of one dish.

This combination makes mesh different from most other digital conferences. At the same, time, it is also mesh’s strengths. Another thing that makes mesh so good is the networking opportunities. Unlike other conferences, mesh attracts people from a variety of sectors, which provides the opportunities for different and new perspectives.

Given how many business are operating lean and mean, going to mesh can seem like a bit of a luxury but it’s an investment with a terrific ROI.

A pre-registration ticket for mesh is $579. If you can only escape the office for one day, we have single-day tickets for $399. To learn more about the speakers and topics, here’s the schedule.

The newsletter also includes blog posts and articles on when to sell your business, why a product launch isn’t necessary a good thing, how Toronto is emerging as one of the leading places to create a B2B startup, and the eight angel investors you should avoid.

Here’s where you can subscribe to the newsletter, which comes out every Saturday morning.

In particular, Toronto has become one of the best places to launch a B2B startup.  If I could be so bold, Toronto may be the best place to launch a B2B startup.

Here’s why:

1. A great pool of talent, particularly developers whose skills and experience are as good as anywhere and, as important, reasonably priced compared with places such as Silicon Valley. We’re also seeing a growing number of repeat entrepreneurs and more executives with solid marketing and sales experience. In other words, there’s plenty of startup bench strength in Toronto.

2. There are many large enterprise companies who can become customers of early-stage B2B startups. This includes Canadian companies, as well as foreign companies with Canadian operations. A Canadian startup, for example, could sell its product to a U.S. company based in Toronto, which would give it a great foothold to sell into the U.S. parent. An entrepreneur recently told me that Toronto is a great place to start a B2B business because the first five customers can be easily attracted to provide product market validation.

3. A strong and tight community of investors, entrepreneurs, service providers, incubators, accelerators and schools that make it easy to make connections and get the support needed to establish and grow a B2B startup. This is probably one of the biggest assets of Toronto’s startup community, although we may not completely appreciate it. You only have to look at the number of startup events to realize the vibrancy and activity of the startup landscape. I would argue the community has been nurtured over the past five years, and it is now starting to bear fruit.

4. There is growing access to capital, although there is room for improvement. Over the past few years, more capital has become available to B2B startups to make it easier for startups to get going. One of the reasons why B2B startups are attractive to investors is they can go after specific markets, driving development, marketing and sales efficiency. That said, there is still more series A money needed to accelerate growth once a B2B startup gains solid traction. The big thing that has to happen is the return of institutional investors, who have been on the sidelines for far too long. In the meantime, Toronto is a short flight from New York and Boston, making it easy for U.S. investors to invest in Canadian startups.

5. The rise of incubators and accelerators such as Jolt, InCubes, Extreme Startups, Ryerson DMZ, Drive and Hyperdrive that are developing, nurturing and developers entrepreneurs, while turning their ideas and projects into viable businesses. Many of the startups involved in these programs will fail but the experience gained by entrepreneurs along the way will be invaluable.

What do you think? Is Toronto a B2B startup haven?

“So, what’s the secret?,” I asked.

“Great coverage from blogs and the media,” he said.

“How do get them to write about you?,”, I asked.

“I email them. I’ve never used a PR agency,” he said.

Imagine that, an entrepreneur getting coverage by sending an email to a reporter or blogger. Who knew it could be that easy!

First, a few caveats. This particular entrepreneur has been around for a few years with a variety of startups, so the success of his approach is a result of a lot of legwork and relationship building. He’s also developed some interesting/news worthy applications.

That said, his ability to attract media and blog coverage should be inspiring and eye-opening to any entrepreneur, particularly those involved in an early-stage startup.

Truth be told, it’s difficult for early-stage startups to get media and blog coverage. There are so many other startups looking for attention that it’s hard to stand out, let alone convince a reporter or blogger to write about you. Second, you need to be a good storyteller, which is not part of many entrepreneurs’ skill set.

Yet, I believe a startup entrepreneur is the best person to get media and blog coverage – much better than PR agency/boutique.

Why? When an entrepreneur pitches a story, it comes across as more real and authentic. It’s a person  building a business, not a hired PR gun. It’s an opportunity for an entrepreneur to establish a personal connection.

It is important for startup entrepreneurs to remember building relationships with reporters and bloggers can take time to develop. It’s like you can hit a home run out of the gate. As well, the initial goal may not be getting coverage. It can start with an invitation for coffee or offering some insight or information.

Another important consideration is making it personal. An entrepreneur needs to do their homework when approaching a reporter or blogger. They need to understand what someone writes about, their interests and how they want to be contacted. It also helps to have read someone’s articles or blogs to gain more knowledge and insight.

At the end of the day, getting coverage from reporters and bloggers can be the dividend from making a concerted, long-term investment. Having a good idea of who you want to target and how to connect with them sets the stage for an entrepreneur to establish a foothold, which could lead to coverage at some point.

One last note: While startups entrepreneurs can be effective PR conduits, there are definitely roles to be played by PR agencies, boutiques or individuals. At the right time, PR practitioners can play a key role in helping startups reach the right people to deliver relevant and interesting pitches.

When it comes down to it, the biggest value delivered by PR practitioners is their networks and connections. They can get a reporter or blogger to take a look at a pitch that otherwise would be quickly deleted or ignored.

Links:

- How to make startup PR work

- When should startups pull the trigger on PR?

]]> http://www.markevanstech.com/2013/04/23/startup-pr/feed/ 0 http://www.markevanstech.com/2013/04/19/startups-free/ http://www.markevanstech.com/2013/04/19/startups-free/#comments Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:30:35 +0000 Mark Evans http://www.markevanstech.com/?p=9939 Continue reading →]]> Summary: It makes little sense for startups to give away their products for free. If a product has value, people should for pay for it.

I was talking with a client recently about whether they should introduce a free version of their product to drive more users into the sales funnel. After throwing around some ideas, we decided it wasn’t a good or viable option, mostly because we didn’t think enough free users would migrate to the premium service.

It was an intriguing conversation given free is used so often by startups looking to attract users. Many of these startups don’t even have paid services, which makes them more projects (and please, please won’t someone, anyone acquire us!) than businesses.

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of startups using free.

Fundamentally, I believe that if you a product is any good and offers some value, consumers should pay for it – whether it’s a one-time shot or a monthly subscription. When a startup embraces free, it suggests they’re afraid their product doesn’t have enough value or their product isn’t good enough compared with the competition.

And freemium isn’t much better. Aside from companies such as Freshbooks and Dropbox, freemium is like dipping your toe in the water as opposed to jumping in with both feet.

Earlier this week, Josh Cohen had an excellent post looking at the “foibles of freemium”, and how it can be an expensive marketing proposition. Here’s how his thesis kicks off:

“[Freemium] can work wonderfully of course, but usually it crushes and destroys companies, not only because it costs more than anticipated but because the founders didn’t realize the business model itself caused them to make incorrect decisions.”

In many respects, freemium (and free) give startups false hope.

By offering people a free option, startups believe a wave of consumers will magically materialize, and that many of these freeloaders (5%, 10%, 15%??) will eventually be compelled to upgrade to the paid version. Of course, this is a dream given the low conversion rates – usually 1% to 2%.

Instead, startups should sell their products. If they want to offer a 14 or 30-day free trial, that’s great but, at some point, consumers need to pay or stop using the service.

Another reason I’ve been thinking about free recently has to do with Tempo, a smart calendar app for the iPhone. Simply put, I love using Tempo. It’s an intuitive, useful calendar that comes with features that make sense.

But here’s the thing: Tempo is free but I’d happily pay for it. Whether it was $5 for a download or $2/month, Tempo has more than enough value for me to cough up some of my hard-earned dollars.

I’m not sure about Tempo’s business plan or revenue model but it’s a perfect example of a startup that shouldn’t be afraid to charge. Yes, I know free is prevalent within the iOS world but not everyone has to give it away for nothing.

Given my approach toward free, it shouldn’t be surprising that I have started to buy more online products.

It’s not because I’m feeling particularly generous or feel that supporting startups financially is the right thing to do. It has more to do with the belief that good products are worth something and, as a result, paying for them should feel right because it’s a win-win proposition.

It could be that free and freemium are permanent parts of the digital landscape because consumer behaviour has been hard-coded. But it should not stop startups from embracing a pay-to-play approach.

If you charge for your product, what’s the worse that can happen? Not enough people may not buy it, which suggests your product isn’t valuable or good enough. If that’s the case, you can give it away for free or decide that maybe you’d be better off doing something else.

1. The willingness to work for a small, non-established company. It sounds straightforward but salespeople like selling, but working for a startup can mean trying to push a small rock up a big hill – without the compensation and perks. A salesperson needs to be excited about a startup’s ability to resonate with customers may have not know the product exists.

2. The ability to multi-task. In a startup, salespeople need to do a lot more than just sell. They have to do business development, marketing, customer service and administrative duties.  In a sense, all of the above involves selling but in a different and indirect way. While salespeople like to be out there selling, working for a startup has to be a lot more.

3. Good listening skills. The products sold by startups are created to solve a problem but it doesn’t mean customers know they need or want them. It means salespeople have to listen as much as they speak, which can be a challenge. It means taking a soft sell approach in which a salesperson learns what a customer needs rather than what a salespeople wants to sell them.

4. Embrace the idea of being product developers. The one thing salespeople do is talk with potential and existing customers on a regular basis. As a result, they can get a good understanding of the problems or needs faced by potential customers, the products or features they would like to see, their budgets and the competition.

5. Be team players rather than lone wolves. While salespeople need to be out talking to potential customers, they also have to understand the different parts of the company, and be willing to get involved in other parts of the business. They need to have a willingness to accept recommendations and ideas from other people and, at the same time, be willing to bring their ideas and feedback to the table.

Links: Ben Horowitz on how to hire great salespeople, and Amrita Chandra on the six must-have traits for a startup marketer.

The newsletter also highlights 50 free services for startups, Kik surpassing 50 million users, six ways for startups to establish trust, and Espresso Capital raising $35-million.

Here’s where you can subscribe to the newsletter, which is published every Saturday morning.

For startups, trust needs to rank as high as the value of their product. There are plenty of startups offering similar products so it is crucial to differentiate from the pack in some way – trust being one of them.

So how do startups make customers trust them so attract and retain business? What does it take to convince people to trust you’re committed to meeting their needs in a win-win way?

In many respects, it comes down to being transparent, honest and accessible. Consumers want to feel a connection with a business. It doesn’t have to be fawning loyalty but consumers have to feel something for your brand that they don’t for others.

Here are a few ways for startups to establish trust:

1. Be clear about what you do and how your product serves their needs. Startups that make it easy for consumers to quickly and easily grasp what they do and the key benefits can begin to establish a relationship on the right foot. By not being clear about what in it for the consumer your product, it’s difficult to get things headed in the right direction.

2. Be open about who is behind the curtain. Startups are created and operated by people, who sell products to people. A pet peeve is reading a startup’s “About” page that doesn’t tell me the people involved with the business. It makes me think “What are they trying to hide? How come there’s no information about the founders or management?”. If a customer is going to trust you, it helps if you’re not trying to be the Wizard of Oz. Instead, provide some information about you and your story.

3. Tell me where you live? Tell me where your business is located or, at the very least, a telephone number. A Website that only has a contact form is do much for building trust. There isn’t a lot to be said for being mysterious or stealth-like, especially if you’re asking people to pay for a product.

4. Make your pricing easy to understand. Be clear about how much someone gets for what price, particularly if you’re offering different types of services (e.g. bronze, silver, gold). Create an easy to understand graphic that spells how each tier is different, and why buying silver is better option for my needs, compared with bronze. And if you’re asking for a credit card before someone decides to make a purchase, make sure it’s for a really good reason.

5. If your product or service fails to perform, own up to it. Don’t try to blame it on another supplier, dismiss it as a minor issue or, worse, ignore it. If you screw up, admit it, apologize and make it right. It doesn’t mean giving away free service but you’ll earn a lot of trust by being honest.

6. Don’t ask for too much information. When kicking off a relationship, it can be strange when one side wants a lot of personal details. In time, I may disclose this information to make the relationship stronger but trying to get it out of me from the get-go is creepy.

At the end of the day, it is difficult to startups to stand out. If customers trust you, it can be a great way to keep them around for a long time and turn them into evangelists.

Dangerous? Huh?

Sure, they provide valuable feedback, advice and criticism but the stuff customers tell you can be distracting, unfocused, self-serving and a waste of time.

The problem is the disconnect between what your product and what customers want. You make a product that has particular benefits and features; customers use the product to meet a need or solve a problem…but they usually want it to do even more.

In fact, the biggest challenge is customers are never truly satisfied or completely happy. No matter how good the product, pricing or customer service, customers believe it would be even better if it did something better or differently.

It means that when they tell you about your product, they want to talk about the existing product but, as important, they love to talk about what they would like to see.

The challenge for startups is knowing when to nod politely, while being able to ignore what they say. In many cases, their enthusiasm and interest is appreciated but it offers no value because it’s not aligned with your vision or road map.

Startups get themselves in trouble when they listen to what a customer tells them, and then reload on product development because the suggestions seem relatively minor, and it’s a way to make a customer happy.

The problem is trying to make your customers happy to a losing proposition. You can’t please everyone, and you can’t meet the needs of all your customers, otherwise you’ll end up with pig of a product that is bloated with features.

At the end of the day, happiness comes from making a product with a specific vision and mission. It doesn’t have to be all things to all people. But it will be successful if it meets the needs of different customers in different ways to provide value and utility.

So how should startups handle what customers say?

The best approach is active, enthusiastic and engaged listening. Truth be told, customers like to tell you what they think. It makes them feel better about using your product because there is engagement.

All the feedback, however, should go into a big pot where it should it should sit for a while before seeing the light of day. At some point, the pot should be sifted through to see if there is any value. Most of it will be useful but some of it will jump out because it fits with how the product should or could evolve.

This can be a difficult process because too much feedback can be overwhelming. In time, however, startups can develop finely tuned tools that make it easier to identify the “safe” information, while ignoring the dangerous or useful stuff.