In pursuit of a customer base and investors, young companies may forget why and for what they launched their product. Companies that focus too much on meeting every user's needs can easily lose their way and end up in the first years.

Once your business has moved beyond the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) stage and is ready to scale, shifting your focus from just customer feedback to other essential areas is crucial. So these are five key priorities I believe companies should focus on instead of obsessing over customer feedback.

Idea Validation

It is checking if your business idea will work before you spend a lot of time and money on it. In his book “The Mom Test”, Rob Fitzpatrick gives a guide for business owners on how to pose questions that genuinely verify their business ideas, free from bias or incorrect assumptions. The test emphasises the importance of asking open-ended questions rather than yes/no questions. This approach can significantly improve the quality of feedback, as it encourages respondents to share detailed experiences rather than superficial opinions.

Also, a good method to gain information about your product is The Painted Door Test. Essentially, you create a mockup or a clickable link that appears to offer a new feature or service, but when users interact with it, they are informed that the item is not yet available or coming soon. This test measures user interest and engagement without fully developing the feature, helping businesses make informed decisions about whether to invest in its development based on real user data.

The decision to employ a painted door test should be made carefully, considering the potential risks and benefits to user trust and resource implications. Maintaining transparency with users and aligning closely with strategic objectives is crucial in this decision-making process.

For example, at Readdle (a mobile application development company) with B2B product Fluix (documents and workflow automation tool), we implemented a process to shorten the development cycle of any feature to two weeks, allowing us to test experimental features with the most loyal companies and remove them if they were not popular.

By talking to potential customers, looking at what competitors are doing, and seeing if there is a demand for your idea, you can find out if people really need and want your product or service. This helps you avoid mistakes, save money, and improve your idea, making the startup more likely to succeed.

Search for Investments

According to AngelList data, a venture-backed early-stage company currently has a 1 in 40 chance, or 2.5% probability, of reaching the company’s value of $1 billion.

Seeking investment early is smart because it connects you with prospective investors and boosts the company's chances of advancing to the next stage.

It's crucial to make and keep promises when looking for investment. Focusing too much on satisfying consumer needs can lead you off track and disappoint potential investors.

A relationship-based fundraising strategy involves meeting potential investors early on, seeking their feedback, and showing your progress without immediately pitching for funds. We start building relationships with potential investment partners as soon as we define the company’s vision, involving them in our ideas and sharing our plans. At each stage of progress, we share our results. This approach helps us attract multiple offers when our product is ready for fundraising.

Mission & Values

They help prevent you from losing focus on important issues and simplify decision-making. It is vital to implement them practically in the company culture. For example, Netflix's mission "We want to entertain the world" has guided its evolution from a DVD rental service to a major streaming provider. Throughout its development, the company has changed and scaled but never lost its essential way.

Formulate a mission and, at any decision-making stage, ask yourself how effectively it moves you toward achieving it. Create a decision-making framework that clearly incorporates the company's values. Team members can use this framework when making decisions to ensure their choices align with the organisation's mission and ethical standards. Additionally, you can recognise employees who demonstrate core values by providing immediate feedback and appreciation in team meetings or on communication platforms, highlighting the specific value and its positive impact on the business.

Clear and consistent communication of the company's mission, vision, and values is essential. This can be achieved through regular meetings, workshops, and training sessions that reinforce these principles. Ensuring that all employees understand and can articulate the mission and values helps align their daily activities with the company's goals.

Efficient Team

Maintaining a diverse team of experiences ensures multiple approaches to any problem. It’s a good idea to look for candidates who complement each other’s skill sets and bring diverse perspectives to the team. For that, you should Implement a multi-stage interview process that includes behavioural questions and assessments to evaluate candidates thoroughly.

While skills are important, personality traits such as adaptability, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit should take precedence. Candidates who can engage in difficult conversations and think independently are often more valuable, as in difficult situations when the human factor is decisive such people can lead you to victory.

Such an approach to team management helped us at PadSplit (a room rental and housing solutions service) when an internal hackathon led to the rapid development of a mobile app prototype by a team with diverse skills that became a critical product for the company.

Flexibility and Determination

While it is necessary to have a clear direction, it is also important to remain adaptive and course-correct as new information becomes available. The framework OKR (Objectives and Key Results) can really help. In simple words, it involves defining clear, specific goals (Objectives) and then identifying measurable outcomes (Key Results) that indicate progress toward those goals. Objectives tell you where you want to go, and Key Results show you how to get there and track your progress. This framework helps everyone in the organisation stay focused and aligned on what really matters.

For example, at Probably Genetic (a free rare disease testing programme) we did an integration with one of the new laboratories that looked promising. But when preliminary data showed that expectations would not be met, we decided to stop developing the product, despite the work done.

While these aspects remain critical at any stage of growth, priorities can shift. It's important to maintain balance and not let one aspect overshadow the others.

Customer feedback is always important, but it should never change the core purpose of your startup. They can push you to develop a completely new product, rather than complicate the functionality of the current one.

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