We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. The next eChai Startup Demo Day is on 29 August in Bengaluru and Pune. The next after that is on 26 September, all in person. 11 cities confirmed, 333 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
Everything from

Intercom (Des Traynor)

2 resources from Intercom (Des Traynor) we point founders to, and the questions each answers.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Des Traynor makes the case that "no" is the product strategy, and that adding a feature for one loud customer quietly costs every other user. It gives you language to defend a tight v1 against constant requests. Short, sharp, and directly about the discipline of cutting.

Product Strategy Means Saying No

From Intercom (Des Traynor) by Des Traynor ~8 min read

  • A cohesive product with clear boundaries beats a pile of tangential features.
  • Every feature you add has an ongoing cost, not just a one-time build cost.
  • No single customer request is worth more than a coherent product.
Open intercom.com →
Answers How do I decide which features to cut from v1? How do I decide what to build next? How do I say no to feature requests without losing customers? What is a sane way to prioritise between fixing bugs, paying customer promises, and building the exciting new thing? How do I stop myself from adding features nobody asked for just because I enjoy building? When is it right to stop iterating on a feature and just kill it?
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

This gives you the actual checklist a request has to clear before it earns a yes, starting with whether it fits the vision and the customers you are building for. It names how products rot one lazy yes at a time, which is the cost you are protecting against. Read it when you want a repeatable filter instead of deciding each request on gut feel.

Rarely say yes to feature requests

From Intercom (Des Traynor) by Des Traynor 10 min read

  • A new feature should pass a fixed set of questions before you commit to it
  • Your vision matters more than any single request, metric, or sales target
  • Bloat is invisible in the moment and only obvious in the rear view mirror
Open intercom.com →
Answers How do I say no to feature requests without losing customers? How do I set a roadmap when half my revenue comes from one big customer who keeps asking for custom features?
eChai Partner Brands