This simple framework has the secret to building what your customers want

How to use it and what to do if you don’t have any customers yet

Photo by Victor He on Unsplash

I don’t think there is anyone in the startup world or the wider business world who will argue with the statement that you should focus on building what your customers want.

But how many people know what that really means and how you should actually go about doing it?

With the rise of Design Thinking and Lean Startup methodologies that now dominate the thinking in startups and big corporations alike, putting users and their problems at the heart of everything you do is a generally accepted concept.

But from my experience, there are a lot of people out there who think this automatically comes from post-it notes, brainstorming, creating user personas and other things that on their own equate to nothing more than innovation theater.

So, what’s the way out of this post-it note purgatory?

I came across a great research paper recently via this blog post that spells out how you can take concrete actions towards building products centered around your customers.

Focus on the action, not the planning