Podcast

Principles of Building Great Products with Julie Zhuo

Amit Somani and Julie Zhuo · Prime Venture Partners Podcast Free Intermediate India

Principles of Building Great Products with Julie Zhuo

Julie Zhuo ran design at Facebook through its entire growth curve, and in this conversation with an Indian early stage VC she talks through how she decides when qualitative research is enough and when a team actually needs a number. It is the rare resource on this list built for an Indian founder audience specifically, hosted by a fund that works with Indian startups every day. Worth the hour for how she thinks about picking the right research tool for the stage you are at.

  • Early stage products lean on qualitative research, not dashboards, to find the right problem.
  • Pick a research method based on the decision you need to make, not out of habit.
  • Small, high conviction user groups matter more early on than broad average metrics.
Watch on YouTube ↗

The question it answers

  1. Should I do customer interviews live over a call, or is survey data good enough at the start?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. A short, practical field guide to customer discovery: who to talk to, how to find them, and how many. Pairs perfectly with The... talkingtohumans.com Book · ~80 pages (free PDF available) Talking to Humans Giff Constable
  3. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  4. The standard modern playbook for keeping discovery continuous so roadmap decisions stay grounded in real customer input, not... Product Talk Book · ~240 pages Continuous Discovery Habits Teresa Torres
  5. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer
  6. Video · About 3 minutes Steve Blank: Want Your Startup to Succeed? Get Out of the Building Steve Blank (Inc. Magazine)
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