TSUW - Designing for Customer Needs, Not Assumptions: Build Products People Actually Want

Good morning! Today we’re diving into the skill every great founder must master — designing products around real customer needs, not the ideas living in your own head.

Today’s Post

Designing for Customer Needs, Not Assumptions: Build Products People Actually Want

If there’s one fatal mistake early founders make over and over, it’s this:
They build what they think customers want instead of what customers actually need.

It’s easy to fall in love with your idea. It’s harder to face the reality that customers don’t care about your features — they care about solving their problems.

That’s why the best founders don’t guess. They observe, test, listen, and iterate their way toward products that fit real human pain.

Here’s how to stop designing from assumptions and start designing from truth.

1. Start With Problems, Not Features

Most founders begin by brainstorming features.
“Let’s add this.”
“Oh, we need that.”
“What if we build an AI assistant for everything?”

But here’s the truth:
Features are solutions. Solutions only matter if there's a real problem behind them.

Instead, flip the script.
Start by deeply understanding the user’s pain:

• What frustrates them?

• What slows their work?

• What costs them time or money?

• What do they currently hack together with spreadsheets, copy/paste, or manual processes?

Your product isn’t valuable because it’s clever.
It’s valuable because it relieves pain.

“Startups don’t win by being smart. They win by being needed.”

2. Talk to Customers (The Right Way)

Most founders talk to customers — but they ask all the wrong questions.
They look for validation instead of truth.

Bad questions (leading the witness):
❌ “Would you use this feature?”
❌ “Do you like this idea?”
❌ “How much would you pay?”

People don’t want to hurt your feelings, so they’ll tell you what you want to hear.

Good questions focus on reality, not hypotheticals:
✔ “Walk me through how you solve this today.”
✔ “What are the most frustrating parts of your workflow?”
✔ “Have you tried to fix this before?”
✔ “When was the last time this problem happened and what did you do?”

Real behavior is the truth. Opinions are noise.

3. Observe, Don’t Assume

You can learn 10x more by watching customers use your product than by asking them questions.

Shadow them.
Record user sessions.
Sit quietly and let them struggle.

Every hesitation, every extra click, every moment they stop to think — these are signals.

Some of the most important discoveries are silent ones:

• A feature nobody touches

• A step that confuses everyone

• A screen that takes too long to load

• A moment where users leave the funnel

Your job is to watch patterns, not rely on anecdotes.

4. Build the MVP Around the Core Need

A Minimum Viable Product is not a small version of a big idea.
It’s the smallest thing that solves the core problem.

That means removing:

• Fancy features

• Edge cases

• “Nice-to-have” ideas

• Anything your customer didn’t explicitly ask for

If your MVP does one thing extremely well, you’re on the right track.
If it does five things kind of well, you’re guessing.

“Focus isn’t saying yes to what matters — it’s saying no to what doesn’t.”

5. Use Feedback Loops to Iterate Quickly

The faster you learn, the faster you grow.

Create feedback loops:

• Ship small updates weekly

• Collect user feedback continuously

• Track activation and retention

• Watch where users get stuck

• Measure what features actually get used

Don’t wait to launch giant releases.
Ship tiny improvements constantly — and let customer behavior guide your roadmap.

Remember:
Iteration beats intuition every time.

6. Make Data Your Co-Founder

Your customers will tell you what they want.
Your data will tell you what they actually do.

You need both.

Track essential signals like:

• Where users drop off

• What features get the most engagement

• Time-to-value (how fast users see the benefit)

• Which segments retain the longest

• Which segments churn the fastest

Then use that data to refine your product roadmap.

If customers say they love Feature A but nobody uses it, don’t build more of it — fix the real problem.

7. Solve One Problem Exceptionally Well Before Expanding

Great startups start narrow.

Slack began as an internal tool to communicate.
Dropbox began as “a folder that syncs.”
Airbnb began as air mattresses on a floor.

You win by dominating one core use case, not by trying to be everything to everyone.

Once you nail the core problem — and users can’t live without it — then expand.

Early focus isn’t limiting. It’s liberating.

Final Thought

Designing for customer needs is not guesswork — it’s a discipline.
It takes humility to admit you don’t know what users want.
And it takes curiosity to go find out.

But the payoff is huge:
Products that stick.
Customers who rave.
Startups that grow naturally.

Because when you solve real problems better than anyone else, you don’t just build a product — you build demand.

💡 “Assumptions build features. Customers build companies.”

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That’s All For Today

I hope you enjoyed today’s issue of The Wealth Wagon. If you have any questions regarding today’s issue or future issues feel free to reply to this email and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Come back tomorrow for another great post. I hope to see you. 🤙

— Ryan Rincon, CEO and Founder at The Wealth Wagon Inc.

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