Author: Gaurav Khatri
Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gauravkhatrigonoise/
Years ago, I sat next to a passenger on a flight who was wearing a Noise smartwatch. I didn't introduce myself as the founder. I just asked him for feedback.
He turned out to be a fitness enthusiast. He told me there was a gap for well-designed earbuds with ear hooks, something runners could actually use.
It became a habit. We started running monthly focus groups - 10 or 15 people at a time. Users, ex-users, people who'd considered us and walked away. The ones who walked away usually taught us the most.
A lot of what shaped Noise's products got built out of those rooms.
I ended up sharing some of this with Utsav Somani recently for 'The Founder Manual', a book he's put together with stories from a hundred-odd Indian founders. There's a lot in there worth reading, from people I've been quietly learning from for years.
The thing I keep coming back to is this: most founders delegate customer conversations away as they scale. I think that's the moment they start losing the plot. Customers speak with their words first and their wallets next. You have to pay attention.
If any of this resonated, 'The Founder Manual' has a hundred more stories like it. Genuinely one of the more useful founder books I've read in a while.
He turned out to be a fitness enthusiast. He told me there was a gap for well-designed earbuds with ear hooks, something runners could actually use.
It became a habit. We started running monthly focus groups - 10 or 15 people at a time. Users, ex-users, people who'd considered us and walked away. The ones who walked away usually taught us the most.
A lot of what shaped Noise's products got built out of those rooms.
I ended up sharing some of this with Utsav Somani recently for 'The Founder Manual', a book he's put together with stories from a hundred-odd Indian founders. There's a lot in there worth reading, from people I've been quietly learning from for years.
The thing I keep coming back to is this: most founders delegate customer conversations away as they scale. I think that's the moment they start losing the plot. Customers speak with their words first and their wallets next. You have to pay attention.
If any of this resonated, 'The Founder Manual' has a hundred more stories like it. Genuinely one of the more useful founder books I've read in a while.
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