As a product ager, i knew that we could build everything that we are really doing manually. It would just take resources. And so i'm the type that will always do things that don't scale, particularly in those zero to one phases. I met with one of our largest customers yesterday and asked, what are the hides and loas with our product right now? You just want to ask the hard questions. Right now, we're running product market fit in an attempt to validate whether we have product market fit.
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:
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.