How to Get the Most Insight From Early Conversations With Customers

Today’s episode is with Ryan Glasgow, the founder and CEO of UserLeap, a product research platform that helps PMs, user researchers, and growth marketers launch microsurveys to uncover customer insights faster. Before founding UserLeap in 2018, Ryan was a PM and early team member at Weebly (which was acquired by Square) and Vurb (which was acquired by Snapchat). 

We start by rewinding the clock back to the 6-month period before Ryan started the company — when he was validating his idea and assessing the crowded market. From how he approached segmentation and early customer conversations, to common product/market fit mistakes, there’s so much advice in here for aspiring entrepreneurs.

We also get into what the first version of the product looked like, how they think about adding new features, and how UserLeap’s 3 product principles are used day-to-day. We also dig into how this self-described “product guy” taught himself founder-led sales, including the specific tactics that made the biggest difference and how he’s refined his approach into a repeatable playbook.

From the question he always asks in customer meetings, to the books that have had the biggest impact on his development, there’s tons of really tactical nuggets in here for founders and product leaders alike.

Here are the books Ryan mentioned in the episode:

• What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services by Anthony Ulwick
• You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar by David Sandler
• User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product by Jeff Patton

You can follow Ryan on Twitter at @ryanglasgow.

You can email us questions directly at review@firstround.com or follow us on Twitter @firstround and @brettberson.