I learned this some time ago and it’s only really hit home recently how important this really is. We’re building a web app and learning a lot about groovy stuff like interaction design. We’re also learning about creating a useful tool.
We’re learning how to make something not because the technology exists, but because the technology can perform a job that makes people more productive.
Answering the “what does it do” question was always where we had to go back to. In order to answer “what does it do”, we first had to find the job we needed it to perform to make us more productive.
The way to find out what job the app needed to perform was to look at what problem I needed solved. Because, I’m my own perfect customer. What would I buy? What would make me more productive? What tool would I drop $40 a year for and consider it a helluva value?
I had to find my pain. The thing that I’d happily pay 40 bucks to make go away. I listed out my pain points and those were jobs the app had to fill in order to be employable for me.
If I weren't my own ideal customer, I’d have had no place to start from. By starting with me as customer number one, I can then branch out and figure out how I can help customer number two through customer number one million.
So, first question for entrepreneurs — would you pay money for your own product?
