Customer Conversations vs. User Interviews

In today's technology-led world, new companies are taking off faster than ever. In 2010, the number of new business applications was 2.5 million. Fast forward 11 years to 2021, and the number jumped 116 percent to 5.4 million. But they are also failing faster. According to the latest data, 10% of new businesses don't survive the first year, and 90% of startups fail over the long run.

One of the culprits, other than the bad product or lack of proper product-market fit, is that some companies expand so quickly that they outrun the process of putting in place a holistic growth strategy that's based on adaptability, ongoing learning, and customer understanding.

For Subscription League Podcast Episode 13, we invited Hannah Parvaz, an award-winning app marketer and the Co-founder of a London-based growth agency, Aperture, to talk about some of the most valuable growth lessons she learned throughout years of research and experience in growing numerous brands to ten-figure yearly revenues. 

In this episode, you will learn about:

• What is a growth mindset and why it's important
• How companies can shift to a growth mindset
• Finding the right North Star Metric
• How to understand customers the right way

For noteworthy quotes and key takeaways from the episode, read the article - Tips for Creating the Right Mindset for Business Growth by Hannah Parvaz (Aperture) 

Episode Topics at a Glance

• What is a growth mindset and why it's important 
• How companies can shift to a growth mindset
• How to balance ideas and prioritize them
• Advice on setting the right North Star metrics 
• User interview vs. conversation
• Recommendation for jobs to be done framework 
• Lessons that Hannah learned 

More about Hannah Parvaz

Hannah Parvaz is the Co-Founder of Aperture. A multi-award-winning marketer, coach and mentor, Hannah was named App Marketer of the Year in 2019 and has spoken internationally on the future of app growth, privacy, and leveraging data analytics.

Having worked with more than 200 companies, Hannah is passionate about supporting & lifting others within the industry; mentoring on Google Launchpad, coaching for Startup Core Strengths, and gaining a 5-star rating on GrowthMentor.

Hannah Parvaz’s Links

• Aperture’s Linkedin page
• Hanna’s Linkedin profile

Timestamps

0:22 Hannah Parvaz background 

1:32 Hannah’s take on growth and why it's important 

4:30 Core values to embrace a growth mindset 

5:36 How do you balance work in the backlog? 

6:52 Hanna's #1 advice for startup subscription businesses 

8:17 North Star metrics explanation and advice 

11:31 The experimental process and growth mindset 

16:28 How Hannah reached success with an app 

19:03 Why doesn't like the term "user interview" 

23:07 Understanding the "why behind the why" 

23:47 What's the alternative to personas? 

25:08 Recommendation for jobs to be done framework 

26:46 An important lesson that Hannah learned 

29:13 Wrap up 

29:39 Thank you for listening

Transcript

Episode production by Mobdesign: https://podcasts.mobdesignapps.fr