User Tested

CHAPTER 7Product Development: Creating Products People Love

Apple, Uber, Netflix, Robinhood, Zoom, Tesla, Airbnb. All of these companies are industry disruptors that didn't just improve on existing offerings, they created entirely new markets with their radical innovations. It's no wonder they're widely revered and constantly cited as inspiration for everything from company mission statements to packaging to the design of digital and physical products.

But too many companies—and product development teams within those companies—claim they want to be “the next Uber” or “the next Airbnb” without committing to the mindsets and methods that made those companies into revolution‐spawning market‐creators. They did it by looking far beyond ease‐of‐use and clever design and forcing themselves to focus on solving key problems in new, groundbreaking ways. They did it by looking outside themselves and ensuring they were deeply and constantly attuned to customer pain points, frustrations, and preferences.

Unfortunately, it can be challenging to attune yourself to customer preferences because people don't always know what they want until you show them. Don't take our word for it: Jeff Bezos—perhaps the world's most influential disruptor—famously said in his 2016 shareholder letter, “No customer ever asked Amazon to create the Prime membership program, but it sure turns out they wanted it.”

If you really want to be the next market‐creator, consider Bezos' point. It's up to you to observe, ...