The Physics of Startups with Rob Snyder How to build the 'right' product
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Sep 5, 2025 Explore how to distinguish between supply and demand in product development. Discover how feature requests can often misrepresent true customer needs. Learn practical tactics to interpret customer insights and refine product offerings. The conversation delves into a Basecamp case study, emphasizing minimal changes that better align with demand. Understand the implications of this distinction in sales and how to establish a company culture that prioritizes demand. Plus, hear insights on pre-selling tactics to validate product needs.
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Requests Often Hide The Real Problem
- Founders often mistake customer requests for demand when they're actually requests for supply.
- Demand is what the buyer needs to accomplish in their world, independent of your product.
Feature Bloat Compounds Over Time
- Building features as a list expands product surface area and compounds maintenance costs.
- Every unnecessary feature increases future complexity and taxes future development.
Basecamp’s Archive-Accident Story
- Basecamp received a permissions feature request after a contractor archived a project and the team panicked.
- They solved it with a simple confirmation warning instead of a full permissions system.