Disruptive innovations and customer feedback

A recent study by ChubbyBrain.com listed the top 20 reasons why startups fail. The #1 reason, ahead of funding, product quality, pricing and other popular ones, was “ignoring or not seeking customer feedback”. However, there are two sides to this.

If your company is launching a disruptive technology, or a at least a truly innovative product, and you really believe in it, taking initial customer feedback at face value may not necessarily be the best way to go. A classic example is the walkman. When Sony was building the product in the 1970s it reached out to potential customers to learn what they thought of it. The most common reaction was to say that the walkman was a stupid idea! Who would walk around listening to music, instead of enjoying it while sitting back in the couch? How would you run errands or even jog with “speakers” on your ears, not hearing what’s going on around you? Had Sony been discouraged by this feedback, it would have probably discontinued the project and missed out on this huge hit.

If not a disruptive innovation, follow the rules

Now, if your product, like the vast majority, is not starting a new market or doesn’t require change in attitude or lifestyle, then of course the story is different. You should adapt to your clients as much as possible, not expect them to do so. This sounds intuitive, but many entrepreneurs (including myself in the past) think their product is so great that the problem, really, is with the rest of the world that doesn’t want it the way it is. Distancing yourself from your “baby” and taking client feedback into consideration is fundamental, both in the product development stage and thereafter.

At the end of the day, it is a judgement call. Do you believe so much in what you are doing – and how you are doing it – that you are willing to risk ignoring customer feedback? Are you breaking a paradigm of sorts to expect to be right over the majority of people you are supposed to serve? Only a very small percentage of startups would fall in this category. If you are one of them, you will have an uphill battle to change people’s behaviors; but one that can have a huge payoff.

See also Not All Angel Investors Are From Heaven. Image: pocketcalculatorshow.com

What’s your experience with disruptive technologies? Leave us a comment!