While Dan Benjamin interviewed Jason Fried on The Pipeline, they touched upon the subject of customers. Jason said something that seemed obvious to me now, but wasn’t always so clear.
It’s very important to understand who your customer is, and the answer is not that it’s everybody. I think if you think your customer is everybody, you’ve got some problems.
— Jason Fried
In a way, I see this as a matter of constraints. Constraints are a critical factor in making a successful product. They are always present. Defining your potential customer base is no exception.
Let’s sell water—everybody needs it!
Consider something that everybody needs: water. Everybody needs water, but not everybody is willing to pay for water. It’s sometimes easy to get into the mindset that everyone is a potential customer when you confuse needs for wants. Just because people need it, doesn’t mean they’ll want to buy it.
Take the time to figure out who needs your product and then constrain that audience further by asking “who is willing to pay for it?” Those are your potential customers. Focus your energy on appealing to them.
You don’t have to ignore the seemingly unwilling customers, but get a core customer base first instead of spreading your focus too thin, too early.
What do you think?
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