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20VC: Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra on How 1-1 Customer Onboarding Can Scale Efficiently to $100M ARR, Why Gamification Does Not Work But Game Design Does & What Game Design Means For The Next Generation Of Product Managers

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Apr 24, 2020

Rahul Vohra, Founder and CEO of Superhuman, shares his revolutionary journey of redefining email. He discusses the vital role of effective customer onboarding and reveals how a small team can drive substantial scaling. Vohra elaborates on why true game design, not mere gamification, is essential for creating engaging products. He outlines key factors for emotional engagement in user experience, and explains how to incorporate playful elements into product design, offering invaluable insights for future product managers.

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ANECDOTE

From Rapportive to Superhuman

Rahul Vohra, reflecting on Superhuman's origin, recalls his experience with Rapportive, a Gmail plugin.
Rapportive's success and subsequent acquisition by LinkedIn gave him unique insights into email's shortcomings.

INSIGHT

The Power of Game Design

Game design, unlike gamification, prioritizes user feeling over needs or wants.
Games are played, not just used, fostering enjoyment and virality.

ANECDOTE

Gamification vs. Game Design

A Stanford study showed that rewarding children for drawing decreased their intrinsic motivation.
This highlights why gamification, with its focus on external rewards, often fails.

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Rahul Vohra is the Founder & CEO @ Superhuman, the startup that has rebuilt the inbox from the ground up creating the fastest email experience ever made. To date, Rahul has raised over $56m with Superhuman from some of the best in the business including a16z, First Round, Box Group and then 2 of my favourites in Jeff Morris Jr @ Chapter One and Ed and Elliot @ Boldstart. Prior to founding Superhuman, Rahul was the Founder @ Rapportive, a company later acquired by LinkedIn in 2014. If that was not enough, Rahul is also an investor having co-founded a new firm with Todd Goldberg just last year.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Rahul made his way from making the first plugin for Gmail with Rapportive to changing how we think about email today with Superhuman?

2.) Why does Rahul believe game design is worth doing? What is the difference between game design and gamification? What does it take to create a game? What is the truth on game design?

3.) What are the core 5 factors that make up effective game design? How can products incorporate goals to make the user feel emotion when engaging? What emotions does one want the user to feel? How can they be tested? What controls should be placed around the UX? Why are controls so fundamental?

4.) What is the difference between a toy and a game? How can one effectively incorporate toys into their product? How has Superhuman done this effectively to date? Hw can designers create a system of flow in the user experience? What works? What does not work?

5.) Did Rahul intentionally create an entirely new category when it comes to onboarding? Why does Rahul pushback on people that suggest 1-1 onboarding is not scalable? What does the unit economics look like? How does this scale to $100M ARR?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Rahul’s Fave Book: The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses

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