Essay

What I've Learned from Users

Paul Graham Free Intermediate

Graham lays out why the users who need you most, not the ones who are easiest to please, are the ones worth building for. It reframes the ICP question as a search for real need instead of broad appeal. A short read that changes how you look at your own user feedback.

  • The most valuable users are the ones who need you badly, not the ones who merely like you
  • Broad, lukewarm interest is a warning sign, not a growth signal
  • Talk to users individually before you try to generalize about a market
Open on paulgraham.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I know if I'm targeting the wrong customer?

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. 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
  3. One of the few pieces that clearly untangles ICP vs persona vs JTBD without jargon, so founders stop conflating them. Useful as... netretention.io Article · ~14 min read Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), ABM, JTBD and Personas: knowing your customer Net Retention
  4. A PM-turned-founder's playbook that treats defining the right customer and problem as a sequence of concrete hurdles, not... First Round Review Article · ~18 min read 8 Product Hurdles Every Founder Must Clear First Round Review
  5. The author of Crossing the Chasm explaining beachhead selection in plain, modern language, the fastest way to absorb the... Lenny's Podcast / Lenny's Newsletter Podcast · ~75 min Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market Lenny Rachitsky & Geoffrey Moore
  6. The best book on positioning against competitors by understanding the alternatives customers actually consider. Directly turns... aprildunford.com Book · ~200 pages Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It April Dunford
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →