Start with customers

Transcript:

Ever tried solving a problem… only to realize later it wasn’t even the real problem?That’s what happens when you build a product without truly listening to your customer. Hi, I’m Nitin, and you’re listening to* Product Decisions*. This podcast is where we unpack the human side of building great products — blending system thinking, psychology, and product experimentation. Today, we’re starting exactly where I believe all product thinking should begin: with the customer.

Segment 1: The Myth of Data

Here’s a hard truth: Just because your dashboards are filled with analytics, doesn’t mean you understand your user.Data shows you what’s happening. Customers tell you why. I’ve built products based on clean funnels, promising trends, and beautifully segmented reports… But the biggest breakthroughs? They came from messy, unfiltered, real conversations with customers. Here’s the thing: most teams, including experienced ones, don’t really do this. It’s not just about what customers say. It’s about what they struggle to express.Even when they don’t know what they want, talking to them helps you see what they don’t know—and that’s gold.

Segment 2: My First Customer Story

Back in college, we had six subjects a year, each with chapters scattered across different books. It was a mess. Every exam season, students would crowd photocopy shops to get a few pages printed for last-minute study. It was chaotic. After struggling with this ourselves in the first year, we decided to fix it. We created complete, syllabus-aligned notes for all subjects — just for ourselves. But then came a lightbulb moment during a chat with my friend "Why not sell this to others?" So we struck a deal with a local shopkeeper to print in bulk way lower than the market rate. We sold the notes at market price and made a decent margin. But then... people started copying our copies. Friends who bought from us would lend them to others, who got their own photocopies made. So we evolved: doorstep delivery. No queue, no wait, just ready-to-use notes.Convenience won. Looking back, we didn’t have a business strategy. We had a simple goal: solve a real problem that we ourselves had. We were our own first customers.

Segment 3: From Photocopies to Product Management

Fast-forward to RCorp.We were building tech for clients we never met. There was no clear priortisation, no roadmap. The real reason? No feedback loop. No real users. No customer voice. The difference became clear — when you have a customer in the loop, they push you to ship. They bring urgency. They give direction. And more than anything, they make the product real.

Segment 4: The ArcMath Leap

In 2017, I co-founded ArcMath, a math education startup. We assembled a team, and everyone became a teacher. Seriously — every single team member conducted workshops and interacted with students and parents firsthand. That was our superpower. We didn’t just build for students and parents — we taught them, listened to them, learned from them. And because of that, our product kept evolving with their needs. That direct connection was priceless.

Segment 5: The TravClan Wake-up Call

Even with a decade of experience, when I joined TravClan in 2021, I struggled. I couldn’t understand the travel business the way I understood education. For six months, I second-guessed myself. But then I asked myself: What am I not doing that I used to do? The answer was simple — I wasn’t talking to customers. I wasn’t even sitting with the teams who did. Once I changed that — started listening to support calls, shadowing sales, talking to travel agents — everything shifted. We started solving real pain points. Our features became faster to ship. The feedback was sharper. The success was measurable. It wasn’t magic. It was just... listening.

Summary

So if you remember just one thing from today’s episode, let it be this: The best product decisions don’t come from strategy decks. They come from conversations. We will cover more on building great product. Until then, go talk to someone who uses your product. And don’t just ask what they want—listen to what confuses them. That’s where the magic is. Thanks for tuning in to Product Decision. I’m Nitin, and I’ll see you next time.