F1 Movie: A Masterclass in Startup Storytelling for Product Teams
I recently had the pleasure of having my heart rate dictated by Hans Zimmer, and my Whoop stress levels practically top out while watching the F1 movie. I didn't do any research prior to this movie; no trailers, didn't read reviews, didn't look up the synopsis, and the only thing I knew about the sport was that people named Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen existed.
While I sat through the movie I went from total F1 noob, to total F1 noob with an appreciation for the sport, and a (very) rudimentary understanding of the sport, its structure, and the people who live in the F1 world. And while many people are probably entering theaters in the same position I was in, the movie does a great job of simplifying the sport to the point that you can understand the problem, the impact, and the solution. I don't understand the ins and outs of what goes into making a successful F1 team, but I do understand that there is a problem with the team, they understand the impact of this problem, and they have a trusted, researched solution to resolve this problem.
Does this process sound familiar? The way this movie was filmed, with a non-F1 proficient audience in mind, parallels the product adoption cycle. This movie was tasked by FIA (F1's governing body) to create a product that appealed to F1 fans and, more importantly, generate awareness and top funnel interest in the sport. FIA tasked the director (Joseph Kosinski) with introducing an elaborate product with a growing market to a new and uninformed audience. Sounds a lot like what founders and product developers do every day, right?
Making Complex Products Compelling Through Story
The F1 movie succeeds because it transforms technical complexity into human drama. Instead of explaining aerodynamics, tire compounds, and energy recovery systems, the film focuses on rivalry, redemption, and the pursuit of perfection. The audience doesn't need to understand DRS zones to feel the tension of a last-lap overtake.
Your startup needs the same approach. Whether you're building AI infrastructure, fintech solutions, or biotech innovations, your customers don't need to understand your technical architecture - they need to understand how your solution changes their world. The F1 movie doesn't teach you to be an engineer; it teaches you to care about the outcome.
The lesson: Lead with emotion and outcome, not features and specifications. Your product story should make people invested in your success before they understand your technology.
Establishing a Clear, Relatable Problem
The movie's genius lies in how it frames the central problem. It's not "How do we optimize lap times?" but rather "How does an aging driver prove he still belongs at the highest level?" This reframe makes the technical challenge accessible to anyone who's ever felt overlooked or underestimated.
Similarly, successful startups don't lead with their technical problem - they lead with their customer's human problem. Stripe didn't start by explaining payment processing complexities; they started with "getting paid online is broken." Airbnb didn't lead with marketplace dynamics; they started with "travel accommodation is expensive and impersonal."
The lesson: Your problem statement should be something your grandmother could understand and care about. If you can't explain why someone should care about your problem in one sentence, you haven't found your story yet.
Demonstrating Impact That Matters
Throughout the film, every technical decision has clear stakes. A faster pit stop means the difference between winning and losing. A better setup means career redemption versus career-ending. The audience always understands what's at risk and why it matters.
Too many startups get lost in vanity metrics or technical achievements that don't translate to meaningful impact. Your customers don't care that you've reduced latency by 200ms - they care that their users are happier, their costs are lower, or their risks are mitigated.
The lesson: Every feature, every improvement, every technical breakthrough needs to be connected to a business outcome that your customer's boss would care about. Impact isn't what your product does - it's what your customer achieves because of your product.
Identifying the Right Customer Fit
The movie works because it knows exactly who it's for: people who appreciate high-stakes competition, regardless of their F1 knowledge. It doesn't try to appeal to everyone - it finds the intersection between F1's core appeal (speed, precision, drama) and universal human themes (ambition, legacy, proving doubters wrong).
Many startups fail because they try to be everything to everyone. The most successful product teams understand that finding your ideal customer isn't about casting the widest net - it's about finding the people who have the problem you solve, the budget to pay for solutions, and the authority to make purchasing decisions.
The lesson: Your ideal customer profile should be as specific as the F1 movie's target audience. Generic messaging appeals to no one. Specific messaging that resonates deeply with the right audience will drive more adoption than broad messaging that resonates weakly with everyone.
The Product Team as Director
Just as Joseph Kosinski had to balance authenticity for F1 fans with accessibility for newcomers, product teams must balance technical excellence with market understanding. The director didn't just make a movie about F1 - he made a movie that used F1 to tell a universal story about perseverance and excellence.
Your product team's job isn't just to build great technology - it's to build technology that tells a compelling story in the market. This means understanding not just what's technically possible, but what's emotionally resonant with your customers.
The best product teams think like filmmakers: they know their audience, they understand what story they're trying to tell, and they craft every feature and interaction to serve that narrative. They don't just ship features - they ship experiences that make customers feel like heroes in their own professional story.
Making Your Startup Story Stick
The F1 movie will likely drive more interest in Formula 1 racing than years of traditional marketing because it made the sport feel accessible and exciting to outsiders. It created new fans by focusing on universal themes while respecting the authenticity that existing fans demanded.
Your startup's story should do the same: make your complex solution feel simple and essential while respecting the intelligence and expertise of your customers. The goal isn't to dumb down your product - it's to elevate your customer's understanding of why your solution matters in their world.
The teams that master this storytelling approach don't just build better products - they build products that customers actively want to champion, recommend, and integrate more deeply into their operations.
In the end, both F1: The Movie and successful startups succeed when they make their audience feel something: excitement about possibility, confidence in the solution, and belief that this is exactly what they've been looking for.
The $50,000 Decision Made at 2 AM: Why Small Businesses Shop Like Consumers
Sometimes when I go to a conference or networking event, someone says something that gets stuck in my head like a catchy song on repeat (looking at you, Benson Boone). Recently, it was this: "Small businesses act like consumers."
At first blush, it's a catchy comparison, one that seems to explain the quirks and challenges of selling to the small business segment. But does it hold water? And if so, what does this mean for startups trying to crack the SMB market?
After marinating on this for a few days (and conducting some highly scientific people-watching at Newark Airport), I've concluded: this statement isn't just accurate—it's brilliantly insightful. Let's dive in.
Small Businesses as Consumers: Where the Comparison Fits
There's a growing body of research and market observation that supports the idea that small businesses, especially at the micro and early stages, often behave much like individual consumers when navigating the marketplace.
Purchasing Decisions: Small businesses frequently make buying decisions based on immediate needs, price sensitivity, and personal relationships, just as consumers do. When Sarah, the owner of a boutique marketing agency, decides to switch from her current project management tool, the process looks suspiciously similar to when she impulse-bought those vintage leather boots last month. Both decisions started with a problem, triggered by an emotional moment, and ended with a purchase justified by rational reasons afterward.
The dollar amounts might differ, but the thought process? Nearly identical. Small business owners make decisions with their gut, then reverse-engineer the logic. Just like the rest of us when we're standing in Target wondering how we spent $200 on "just a few things."
Market Engagement: Studies show that small businesses, particularly in regulated markets like energy or telecom, are often just as disengaged and overwhelmed as individual consumers. They face similar frustrations: opaque pricing, confusing terms, and limited recourse when things go wrong. If Amazon can deliver my random 3 AM impulse purchase by tomorrow, why does your B2B software take three weeks to implement?
Customer Experience Expectations: Here's where it gets really fascinating. Customers hold small businesses to a higher standard of warmth, friendliness, and helpfulness than they do large corporations. When a small business falls short, the negative reaction is stronger, mirroring the emotional expectations we place on personal interactions.
As Pankaj Aggarwal from the University of Toronto puts it: "It feels very wrong when a small business mistreats us because we expect them to be warmer and friendlier; on the other hand, we don't expect larger companies to be particularly warm or friendly, so when they fail to be nice it doesn't come as a big surprise."
The Amazon Effect: B2B Meets B2C Expectations
Small business owners have been thoroughly trained by consumer experiences to expect certain things:
Transparent pricing: We've all abandoned shopping carts when websites made us "contact sales for pricing." Small businesses do the same thing. If I can see the price of a $50,000 car online, why can't I see the price of your $500/month software?
Self-service everything: Small business owners are DIY by necessity. They want to sign up, onboard, and start using your product without talking to a human. Just like ordering groceries or booking a vacation.
Reviews and social proof: Before buying anything, from restaurants to software, small business owners are checking reviews, asking in Facebook groups, and looking for social proof. The decision-making process for choosing new accounting software involves the same Yelp-stalking behavior as selecting a dinner spot.
Why This Matters for Startups and Small Businesses
If small businesses act like consumers, the implications are profound for how both startups and established small businesses approach their markets. At their core, a nascent startup is nothing but a small business. Every customer has a name, expects that small-town relationship, and came to you instead of a large public company to help them in their time of need.
For Small Businesses:
Personalization is Key: Just as consumers crave tailored experiences, small business customers respond to personalized outreach and solutions. Behavioral marketing, using data to segment, target, and personalize, can be a game-changer.
Agility is an Advantage: Small businesses can adapt quickly to shifts in trends and preferences, often outpacing larger competitors in responsiveness. This agility should be leveraged to catch emerging trends and respond to customer feedback in real time.
Trust and Relationships: Building trust and offering genuine, human-centered service isn't just a "nice to have"; it's expected. Failing to deliver can hurt more than it would for a faceless corporation.
For Startups Selling to Small Businesses:
Consumer Insights Drive Strategy: Startups that treat small business customers as "mini-consumers" can better anticipate their needs, pain points, and buying triggers. This means using consumer behavior analysis, not just traditional B2B market research, to inform product development and marketing.
Emotional Connection Matters: Just as with consumer brands, emotional resonance and storytelling can tip the scales. Startups that craft relatable narratives and show empathy for the small business journey will stand out.
Simplicity Wins: Overly complex solutions or jargon-heavy sales pitches will fall flat. Like consumers, small business owners want clear value, easy onboarding, and visible ROI.
The Goldilocks Dilemma: Where the Analogy Gets Complicated
But here's where small businesses diverge from typical consumers, creating a fascinating paradox: they're making consumer-style decisions with business consequences.
When you buy the wrong shampoo, you're out $12 and have bad hair for a month. When a small business owner chooses the wrong software, they're potentially out thousands of dollars, weeks of productivity, and their sanity.
Scale of Impact: A bad purchasing decision can have existential consequences for a small business, while for a consumer, it's often just a personal inconvenience.
Multiple Stakeholders: Even the smallest businesses may have more than one decision-maker or influencer: owners, employees, advisors, complicating the buying process.
Growth Ambitions: Many small businesses aspire to scale, and as they grow, their behavior shifts toward more formal, process-driven purchasing.
Small businesses exist in a perpetual state of identity crisis. They're too big to be treated like consumers but too small to get the white-glove enterprise treatment. They want sophisticated features but can't afford sophisticated price tags. They need reliable support but don't have dedicated IT teams.
Takeaways: Rethinking Go-to-Market for the "Consumerized" Small Business
If you're a startup founder or a small business owner, here's how to put this insight to work:
Make pricing transparent. Put it on your website. Small business owners are comparison shopping just like they do for everything else. Hidden pricing feels sketchy, whether you're buying software or a used car.
Double Down on Customer Understanding: Use tools and techniques from consumer marketing; surveys, behavioral analytics, social listening, to build a nuanced picture of your small business customers.
Design for Simplicity and Empathy: Make it easy to buy, easy to use, and easy to get help. Speak human, not corporate. Your onboarding should feel more like setting up Netflix than implementing SAP.
Invest in Relationships: Personalized follow-ups, responsive support, and genuine care aren't just good practice—they're market differentiators. Small business owners prefer figuring it out themselves to scheduling yet another demo call.
Stay Agile: Monitor shifts in small business "consumer" behavior and be ready to pivot your offerings and messaging quickly.
Think mobile-first: Small business owners are managing their companies from their phones while waiting in line at the grocery store. If your product isn't mobile-friendly, you're already losing.
The Plot Twist: This Isn't a Bug, It's a Feature
Here's the beautiful irony: the fact that small businesses act like consumers isn't a weakness to overcome—it's a superpower to harness.
Consumer behavior is predictable, well-researched, and optimized. We know how to create delightful consumer experiences. We know how to reduce friction, build trust, and drive conversions.
The companies winning in the small business space aren't those trying to force SMBs to act like enterprises. They're the ones saying, "You know what? Let's make B2B feel like B2C, but with better software."
Bottom Line
The comparison isn't just a clever turn of phrase—it's a strategic lens. In a world where small businesses act like consumers, the winners will be those who listen, personalize, and treat every business customer as a person first.
"Small businesses act like consumers" isn't an insult—it's an insight. It's recognition that the people running these businesses are, well, people. They bring their consumer expectations, behaviors, and decision-making patterns to their business purchases.
The smartest startups are the ones building for this reality instead of fighting it. They're creating products that feel as intuitive as Instagram but solve real business problems. They're making B2B purchasing as smooth as ordering an Uber, but with the depth and functionality that businesses actually need.
And isn't that what business—at any size—is all about?
Tariffs and B2B SaaS: Why the Rules Just Changed
Letʼs talk about tariffs. Not the kind that get debated on cable news, but the kind that quietly upend your sales pipeline, your pricing model, and your customer’s willingness to sign a contract. If youʼre building or selling B2B SaaS right now, youʼre probably not thinking about tariffs. After all, tariffs are for physical goods, right? Containers, widgets, steel, and soybeans. Not software.
But hereʼs the catch: tariffs have a way of sneaking into places you donʼt expect. And in 2025, theyʼre starting to reshape the B2B SaaS landscape in ways that are both subtle and seismic.
The Domino Effect: When Your Customer Gets Squeezed, So Do You.
Hereʼs the first thing to understand: most SaaS companies wonʼt get a tariff bill in the mail. But your customers—especially those in manufacturing, logistics, or anyone who actually imports stuff—are feeling the pinch. Their costs go up. Their margins go down. Suddenly, every line item in the budget is under the microscope, and “nice-to-have” software is the first to get the axe.
What does that mean for you? Longer sales cycles. More procurement hurdles. Deals that felt like slam dunks now drag on for months, only to die on the CFOʼs desk. Youʼre not just selling software anymore—youʼre selling survival, efficiency, and cost savings. If you canʼt prove ROI in black-and-white terms, youʼre toast.
The Hidden Costs: When Infrastructure Isnʼt So Cheap Anymore.
Now, letʼs talk about your own costs. Most SaaS companies run on cloud infrastructure—AWS, Azure, Google Cloud. Guess what? Those data centers are built from servers, switches, and chips, many of which are now subject to tariffs. The cloud providers arenʼt eating those costs out of the kindness of their hearts. Theyʼre passing them on, quietly, in the form of higher hosting and bandwidth fees.
You might not notice it at first. But over time, your COGS creeps up. Margins get thinner. Suddenly, that “scale forever” business model needs a second look.
The New Playbook: Adapt or Get Left Behind.
So, what do you do? Hereʼs the playbook Iʼm seeing work for SaaS teams who want to stay ahead of the curve:
Reframe Your Value Prop
Get Flexible on Pricing
Shorten Time-to-Value
Double Down on Retention
Watch Your Own Costs
The Bottom Line
Tariffs arenʼt just a headline—theyʼre a ripple thatʼs turning into a wave for SaaS. Your customers are feeling it, and if youʼre not adapting, youʼll feel it too. The winners will be the teams that move fast, prove value, and stay relentlessly focused on what matters: helping customers survive and thrive, no matter what the macro looks like.
If youʼre still selling SaaS like itʼs 2021, youʼre already behind. Time to update the playbook
Consolidation in the SaaS Market—Opportunities for Customer Success
What Are We Talking About?
The SaaS landscape is evolving rapidly, with consolidation emerging as a defining trend. Industry leaders like Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce are acquiring niche startups to expand their product portfolios and create unified, all-in-one platforms. While this trend signals innovation and growth, it also introduces complexity—especially for customer success teams tasked with managing transitions and ensuring customer satisfaction during these changes.
For customer success professionals, SaaS consolidation isn’t just a challenge; it’s an opportunity to demonstrate their strategic value. By proactively addressing customer concerns, guiding them through transitions, and reinforcing the expanded value of integrated platforms, CS teams can turn potential disruption into long-term growth.
Why SaaS Consolidation Matters
Consolidation in the SaaS market is driven by several factors:
Customer Demand for Integrated Solutions: Businesses increasingly prefer platforms that offer a suite of tools under one roof to streamline workflows and reduce vendor sprawl.
Competitive Differentiation: Acquisitions allow companies to expand their capabilities and stand out in crowded markets.
Economic Pressures: In uncertain times, consolidating resources can help companies achieve economies of scale and improve profitability.
For customers, however, consolidation often brings uncertainty. Will the product they rely on change? Will pricing structures shift? Will support become less personalized? These questions highlight the critical role customer success teams play in navigating these transitions effectively.
Why SaaS Consolidation Matters
Consolidation in the SaaS market is driven by several factors:
Customer Demand for Integrated Solutions: Businesses increasingly prefer platforms that offer a suite of tools under one roof to streamline workflows and reduce vendor sprawl.
Competitive Differentiation: Acquisitions allow companies to expand their capabilities and stand out in crowded markets.
Economic Pressures: In uncertain times, consolidating resources can help companies achieve economies of scale and improve profitability.
For customers, however, consolidation often brings uncertainty. Will the product they rely on change? Will pricing structures shift? Will support become less personalized? These questions highlight the critical role customer success teams play in navigating these transitions effectively.
Opportunities for Customer Success Teams
Despite these challenges, SaaS consolidation presents unique opportunities for CS teams to shine:
1. Proactive Communication Builds Trust
Transparency is key during mergers and acquisitions. Customers want to know what’s happening, why it’s happening, and how it will benefit them. CS teams should take the lead in communicating these changes clearly and consistently across channels—whether through email updates, webinars, or dedicated account manager outreach.
2. Re-Onboarding Customers to Integrated Platforms
Consolidation often means introducing customers to new features or workflows within a unified platform. Treat this as an opportunity to re-onboard them—not just to the product but to its expanded value proposition. Personalized walkthroughs, training sessions, or even self-service tutorials can help customers navigate these changes confidently.
3. Cross-Selling Opportunities Drive Growth
With a broader suite of tools post-acquisition, CS teams can identify opportunities to introduce customers to complementary products that solve additional pain points. Positioning these offerings as solutions—not upsells—can deepen relationships while driving revenue growth.
4. Monitoring Churn Risk Proactively
Use customer health scores and churn prediction tools to identify at-risk accounts early in the transition process. Address their concerns proactively through tailored outreach or enhanced support before they escalate into cancellations.
5. Advocacy for Customers Internally
During mergers, decisions are often made at the executive level with limited input from customers. CS teams are uniquely positioned to bring the voice of the customer into these conversations, ensuring that changes align with customer needs and expectations.
Best Practices for Navigating SaaS Consolidation
To successfully manage transitions during consolidation, CS teams should consider these best practices:
Collaborate Across Departments: Work closely with sales, marketing, and product teams to ensure consistent messaging and seamless execution of changes.
Invest in Customer Education: Provide resources like webinars or knowledge bases that help customers understand new features or workflows within integrated platforms.
Create Feedback Loops: Actively solicit feedback from customers during transitions to identify pain points and areas for improvement.
Prioritize High-Touch Accounts: For enterprise-level customers or those critical to revenue streams, offer dedicated account management during transitions to maintain trust and satisfaction.
Conclusion: Turning Challenges into Opportunities
SaaS consolidation doesn’t have to mean disruption—it can mean growth for both your company and your customers. By stepping up as strategic partners during these transitions, customer success teams can deepen relationships, drive adoption of new offerings, and position themselves as indispensable contributors to business success.
As the SaaS industry continues to evolve through acquisitions and integrations, customer success will remain at the heart of ensuring smooth transitions and long-term satisfaction.
How has your team navigated consolidation? Share your strategies—we’d love to hear from you!
How to Get People to Actually Use Your Product Part 5: Scaling Beyond Early Adopters
**The final post in my “How to Get People to Actually Use Your Product” series. This served as the inaugural blog series for Lovell Up Success, and while they’re may have been better topics to kick off with, I think I made a smart move in picking a topic I was genuinely interested in, and creating content that the readers could genuinely derive benefit from. Please let me know what you’d like our next series to cover, we’re always open to suggestions.**
Scaling a product feels like reaching the summit of a mountain. After months of climbing—planning, coding, and refining—you finally see the breathtaking view of widespread adoption. But anyone who’s been on this journey knows that the real challenge lies in sustaining that momentum. The question isn’t just Will people use this? It’s Will they keep using it and tell others about it?
This is the game of scaling product adoption—the difference between a product that thrives and one that stagnates. Scaling determines your growth, your retention, and ultimately, your success. And yet, most startups approach it as an afterthought.
Let’s fix that.
What Scaling Really Means
At its core, scaling product adoption is about turning early adopters into loyal advocates. It’s a journey with distinct phases:
Community Building: Creating spaces where users connect and share insights.
Viral Loops: Encouraging users to share their experiences and invite others.
Strategic Marketing: Using data to inform targeted campaigns that resonate with different segments.
Most startups focus on acquiring new users. The real magic happens when you create a self-sustaining ecosystem—turning users into lifelong customers.
The Playbook for Scaling
Here’s what separates the companies that thrive from the ones that stall:
1. Build a Community Around Your Product
Community is the backbone of sustainable growth. By creating forums, Slack groups, or social media communities, you foster an environment where users can learn from each other and discover new use cases organically.
Define Your Community’s Purpose: Clarify what your community stands for and what value it offers to members.
Encourage User-Generated Content: Use hashtags or contests to encourage users to share their experiences and stories related to your product.
2. Implement Viral Loops
Viral loops are powerful tools for organic growth. By adding shareable features like badges or achievements, you encourage users to showcase their milestones on social media, spreading awareness and attracting new users.
Create Referral Incentives: Offer rewards like premium features or credits for users who invite friends to join.
Celebrate Milestones: Use in-app notifications or emails to celebrate user achievements, motivating them to share their success stories.
3. Use Data to Inform Marketing Strategies
Data is the compass that guides your marketing efforts. By analyzing user behavior and segmenting your audience, you can create targeted campaigns that resonate with different user groups.
Segment Users: Use analytics tools to identify patterns in user behavior and preferences.
Personalize Messaging: Tailor your marketing messages to align with the needs and interests of each segment.
The Science of Scaling
Scaling product adoption is akin to observing a complex ecosystem. Each element—community, viral loops, and data-driven marketing—interacts with others in a delicate balance. As you navigate this ecosystem, remember that adaptation is key. Your product must evolve to meet the changing needs of your users, much like species adapt to their environments.
The Art of Storytelling in Scaling
The story of scaling product adoption is one of connection and growth. It’s a narrative that resonates with users and drives them to become part of something bigger than themselves. By using data and community to tell this story, you create a compelling tale of human interaction and technological innovation.
The Puzzle of Scaling
Scaling product adoption is like solving a complex puzzle. Each piece—community, viral loops, and data-driven marketing—must fit together perfectly to create a narrative of growth and adaptation. It’s a story that is imperfect yet captivating, with flaws that leave an aftertaste and inspire further exploration. As you navigate this journey, remember that the real magic happens when you create a self-sustaining ecosystem that adapts to the evolving needs of your users.
Conclusion
In this series, we’ve explored the strategies that turn curious users into loyal advocates. From crafting a seamless onboarding experience to scaling beyond early adopters, each step is crucial in creating a product that not only sticks but also thrives. By embracing these strategies, startups can unlock sustainable growth and turn their product into a lasting success.
How to Get People to Actually Use Your Product Part 4: Leveraging Data for Continuous Improvement
After users have started to engage with your product, the next hurdle is to ensure that their experience remains seamless and valuable over time. This is where data comes into play. By leveraging product analytics, you can identify friction points, optimize the user journey, and make data-driven decisions that enhance product adoption and retention.
What Data-Driven Optimization Really Means
At its core, data-driven optimization is about using insights to refine your product and user experience. It’s a journey with distinct phases:
Data Collection: Gathering user behavior data across all touchpoints.
Analysis: Identifying friction points and areas for improvement.
Optimization: Implementing changes based on data insights.
Iteration: Continuously refining your strategy based on feedback and performance metrics.
Most startups focus on collecting data. The real magic happens when you analyze and act on it—turning insights into tangible improvements.
The Playbook for Data-Driven Optimization
Here’s what separates the companies that thrive from the ones that stall:
1. Use Customer Journey Analytics to Identify Friction Points
Customer journey analytics is a powerful tool for understanding how users navigate your product. By analyzing user flows, engagement rates, and drop-off points, you can pinpoint where friction occurs and why.
Automate Data Capture: Use tools like Contentsquare or Fullstory to automatically collect user interaction data across all channels.
Connect Data Sources: Integrate data from CRM records, support tickets, and marketing analytics to get a holistic view of the customer journey.
2. Implement A/B Testing and Personalization
A/B testing and personalization are essential for optimizing user experiences. By using historical and real-time data, you can tailor your product to meet different user needs and preferences.
Conduct Statistically Significant Tests: Use tools like Mixpanel to set up event tracking and conversion funnel analysis.
Scale Personalization Efforts: Leverage machine learning to predict user behavior and create personalized experiences.
3. Create Feedback Loops for Continuous Improvement
Feedback loops are crucial for refining your product strategy over time. By setting up real-time alerts for friction points and cross-team sharing of insights, you can ensure that every improvement is data-driven and impactful.
Set Up Real-Time Alerts: Use tools like Fullstory to detect friction points and notify teams immediately.
Regular Testing Cycles: Implement regular testing cycles to measure the impact of changes on customer satisfaction and conversion rates.
The Secret to Sustained Growth
The key to sustained growth isn’t just about what you do initially; it’s about how you continue to evolve and improve over time. By focusing on data-driven optimization, startups can create a product that not only meets user needs today but also adapts to their evolving expectations tomorrow.
Next Steps
In Part 5: Scaling Beyond Early Adopters, we will explore strategies for scaling product adoption, including community building, in-app upsells, and strategic marketing campaigns. This includes leveraging user success stories, creating viral loops, and using data to inform your growth strategy. By the end of this series, you’ll have a comprehensive framework to turn your product into a lasting success.
How to Get People to Actually Use Your Product - Part 3: Highlighting Product Value and Driving Engagement
The Real Challenge Isn’t Just Onboarding—It’s Keeping Users Engaged
Once users have successfully onboarded, the next hurdle is to keep them engaged and demonstrate the ongoing value of your product. This isn’t just about showcasing features; it’s about showing users how your product solves real-world problems and meets their evolving needs. Effective engagement strategies can transform casual users into loyal advocates, driving long-term retention and word-of-mouth growth.
What Engagement Really Means
At its core, engagement is about turning curious users into committed ones. It’s a journey with distinct phases:
• Interest: Users are curious about your product.
• Exploration: They start to explore its features.
• Value Realization: They see tangible benefits.
• Habit Formation: Your product becomes part of their routine.
Most startups focus on getting users interested. The real magic happens when you optimize for value realization and habit formation—turning first-time users into lifelong customers.
The Playbook for Engagement
Here’s what separates the companies that thrive from the ones that stall:
Use Success Stories to Highlight Value
People don’t just want to know what your product does; they want to know what it can do for them. Success stories and case studies are powerful tools for demonstrating real-world benefits.
Quantify Benefits: Use data to show how your product has helped other users achieve tangible results.
Make It Relatable: Share stories that resonate with your target audience, highlighting challenges they can identify with.
Implement Feedback Loops
User feedback isn’t just a nicety; it’s a necessity. The best startups use feedback to refine their product and show users that their input matters.
• Regular Surveys: Conduct regular surveys to understand user needs and preferences.
• In-App Feedback Tools: Use tools like in-app polls or feedback buttons to gather instant feedback.
Gamification and Incentives
Engagement isn’t just about utility; it’s also about fun. Gamification can encourage users to explore more features and achieve milestones.
• Reward Engagement: Use badges, points, or leaderboards to encourage users to explore more features.
• Exclusive Offers: Provide incentives such as premium content or early access to new features for active users.
The Psychology of Engagement
Why do people adopt products? It’s not just about features; it’s about the psychological connection they form with your brand. It’s about feeling like your product understands them and makes their life easier. By tapping into this psychology, you can create a loyal user base that not only adopts your product but also becomes a powerful advocate for your brand.
The Blueprint for Engagement—Broken Down
In this part, we’ve explored the strategies for showing (not just telling) your product’s value. Next, we’ll dive into how to leverage data to optimize user behavior and drive continuous growth.
Next Steps
In Part 4: Turning Data into an Adoption Engine, we will explore how to use product analytics to identify friction points, optimize the user journey, and make data-driven decisions that enhance product adoption and retention. This includes setting up key metrics, analyzing user behavior, and iterating on your product strategy based on insights gained from data analysis. By the end of this series, you’ll have a step-by-step framework to turn hesitant users into lifelong customers—and ensure your product isn’t just another startup that people try once and forget.
How to Get People to Actually Use Your Product Part 2: Crafting a Seamless Onboarding Experience
Crafting a seamless onboarding experience is crucial for driving user adoption and retention. It sets the tone for how users perceive your product and can significantly influence whether they become long-term customers. A well-designed onboarding process should be intuitive, engaging, and focused on delivering quick wins that demonstrate the value of your product.
Key Principles of Effective Onboarding
Simplify and Streamline the Process:
• Avoid Information Overload: Resist the temptation to showcase all your product’s features at once. Instead, focus on what users need to know right away to achieve their first success.
• Use Checklists and Guides: Implement in-app checklists or guided tours to lead users through essential steps without overwhelming them.
2. Personalize the Experience:
Segment Your Users: Understand who your users are and tailor the onboarding based on their roles, goals, or use cases. This can be done by asking questions during sign-up or using data to segment users automatically.
• Highlight Relevant Features: Show users the features most relevant to their needs, helping them reach their “aha!” moment faster.
3. Engage Proactively:
• Automate Support: Use automated emails, videos, and in-app prompts to guide users, but maintain a personal touch where necessary.
• High-Touch Support: For complex products or high-value customers, consider personalized check-ins or dedicated success managers.
Implementing a Successful Onboarding Strategy
Step 1: Welcome and Introduce
• Welcome Emails: Send personalized automated emails that introduce your brand and set clear expectations.
• Kickoff Calls: For high-value customers, consider a brief call to clarify goals and answer questions.
Step 2: Product Familiarization
• Guided Tours: Use tools like Loom or UserPilot to create interactive in-app walkthroughs that highlight core features.
Create modular content that is easily updatable to efficiently train CSMs and your customers.
• Checklists: Create step-by-step checklists to guide users through key actions, celebrating small wins along the way.
Step 3: Drive Early Success
• Identify Quick Wins: Use product analytics to determine actions associated with less churn and guide users toward these early successes.
• Front-Load Value: Ensure that your onboarding process quickly demonstrates how your product solves users’ core challenges
Best Practices for Continuous Improvement
• Iterate Often: Start small and refine your onboarding process based on user feedback and performance data.
• Celebrate Small Wins: Encourage user engagement by celebrating milestones and progress throughout the onboarding journey.
By focusing on simplicity, personalization, and proactive engagement, startups can create an onboarding experience that not only welcomes users but also sets them up for long-term success with the product.
Next Steps
In Part 3: Highlighting Product Value and Driving Engagement, we will explore strategies for effectively communicating your product’s value and encouraging user engagement through interactive features and feedback loops. This includes leveraging user success stories, implementing feedback mechanisms, and using gamification to enhance user interaction.
How to Get People to Actually Use Your Product: A 5-Part Guide for Startups
The Real Challenge Isn’t Building—It’s Adoption
Launching a product feels like crossing the finish line. After months (or years) of planning, coding, and refining, you finally hit “go.” But anyone who’s done this before knows the real work begins after launch.
The question isn’t just Will people try this? It’s Will they keep using it?
This is the game of product adoption—the difference between a product that sticks and one that fades into the abyss of abandoned apps and forgotten logins. Adoption determines your growth, your retention, and ultimately, your success. And yet, most startups approach it as an afterthought.
Let’s fix that.
What Product Adoption Really Means
At its core, product adoption is about getting users from curious to committed. It’s a journey with distinct phases:
Awareness – People hear about your product.
Interest – They get curious.
Evaluation – They decide if it’s worth their time.
Trial – They take it for a test drive.
Activation – They see real value.
Adoption – It becomes part of their routine.
Most startups focus on the first two steps—getting attention. The real magic happens when you optimize for activation and long-term adoption—turning first-time users into loyal advocates.
The Playbook for Product Adoption
Here’s what separates the companies that thrive from the ones that stall:
1. Make Onboarding Stupidly Simple
Your onboarding process is where most users decide if they’re in or out. The best products make onboarding effortless:
TurboTax doesn’t tell you to “set up your tax profile.” It asks, “Do you want a bigger refund?”
Duolingo doesn’t say, “Learn Spanish today.” It asks, “How much time do you have?”
Remove unnecessary friction. Focus on quick wins. Show users how your product makes their life easier—immediately.
2. Don’t Sell Features—Sell Outcomes
People don’t buy software. They buy solutions to their problems.
Calendly isn’t about scheduling—it’s about getting rid of email back-and-forth.
Notion isn’t about note-taking—it’s about feeling like an organizational genius.
Your messaging should be laser-focused on the outcome, not the tool. Success stories and case studies are your best weapon.
3. Let Data Tell You Where Users Get Stuck
User behavior isn’t a guessing game. The best startups obsess over where people drop off and why.
Are users bailing after sign-up? Maybe onboarding is too complex.
Are they engaging but not converting? Maybe they don’t see the full value.
Are they ghosting after the first week? Maybe they need a nudge back.
Every action (or inaction) tells a story. The more you listen, the better you can optimize.
The Blueprint for Adoption—Broken Down
Over the next four parts, we’ll dive deep into each of these strategies:
Part 2: The Art of Effortless Onboarding
How to get users from sign-up to “this is amazing” in minutes.
Part 3: Showing (Not Just Telling) Your Product’s Value
The psychology of why people adopt products—and how to use it to your advantage.
Part 4: Turning Data into an Adoption Engine
How to track, analyze, and optimize user behavior for continuous growth.
Part 5: Scaling Beyond Early Adopters
The secrets behind retention, community-building, and viral growth.
By the end of this series, you’ll have a step-by-step framework to turn hesitant users into lifelong customers—and ensure your product isn’t just another startup that people try once and forget.
Let’s get into it.
Navigating the AI Revolution in Customer Success: A Personal Perspective
As a Director of Customer Success at Jellyfish, I've witnessed firsthand the rapid evolution of our industry. Recently, I've been particularly intrigued by the surge of AI-powered tools in the customer success management (CSM) landscape - even going as far as utilizing four (yes, 4) different AI notetaking apps to assist me in my day-to-day duties, only to have each of them get blocked by our IT team (darn). While these innovations offer exciting possibilities, they've also prompted me to reflect on their potential impact on our profession.
The Double-Edged Sword of AI in CSM
The influx of AI-powered CSM tools is undeniable. As someone who has implemented and used several of these solutions, I've come to appreciate their benefits. However, I can't help but wonder: At what point do these AI systems become a double-edged sword?
My concerns are twofold:
1. Skill Erosion: There's a risk that we, as CSMs, might become complacent and stop developing our core skills, relying too heavily on AI-powered solutions.
2. Over-dependence: We might start taking these tools for granted, potentially missing important nuances in customer interactions that only human intuition can catch.
My AI Note-Taking Journey
To illustrate this point, let me share my personal experience with AI note-taking apps. As someone who struggles with note-taking during calls, I was initially thrilled by these tools. My journey looked something like this:
1. At first, I closely monitored the AI's note-taking during calls to ensure accuracy.
2. As my trust in the AI grew, I stopped actively monitoring and focused entirely on the conversation.
3. Eventually, I found myself only skimming the AI-generated notes, potentially missing valuable context and connections to previous meetings.
This experience was a wake-up call. While AI tools offer undeniable convenience, I realized I might be missing crucial details that could impact my customer relationships and business outcomes in the long term.
Striking the Right Balance
Despite these concerns, I'm not advocating for a complete rejection of AI tools. Instead, I believe the key lies in finding the right balance. Here are some strategies I've adopted to use AI effectively without becoming overly reliant:
1. Hone critical listening skills: I'm working on improving my ability to discern important information during conversations, even when AI is doing the note-taking.
2. Diversify tools: I avoid putting all my eggs in one basket by using multiple tools and approaches.
3. Understand the technology: I make an effort to familiarize myself with AI tools and their limitations.
4. Trust my experience: I've learned to be confident in my ability to recognize when AI outputs need revision or correction.
5. Commit to continuous learning: I'm dedicated to upskilling in both AI technologies and core CSM capabilities.
Embracing the Future
As we navigate this AI revolution in customer success, it's crucial to remember that these tools are meant to enhance our capabilities, not replace them. By maintaining a balance between leveraging AI and developing our human skills, we can provide even better service to our clients. Some things that I will be particularly interested in will be AI’s ability to gauge sentiment from a customers voice, I believe that will allow for even more actionable insights and a better connection with the customer.
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane…It’s….DeepSeek
The emergence of DeepSeek, particularly its latest model DeepSeek-V3, is poised to have a significant impact on the AI landscape in customer success. Here’s how DeepSeek could affect this field:
Enhanced Personalization and Proactive Support
With DeepSeek’s advanced reasoning capabilities and efficient performance, customer success teams may be able to provide more personalized and proactive support. The AI could help identify potential churn risks, suggest personalized retention strategies, and enhance overall customer experiences.
Transparency in AI Decision-Making
DeepSeek’s focus on transparency, particularly its ability to articulate its reasoning before providing responses, could lead to more explainable AI in customer success applications. This feature could help CS professionals better understand and trust AI-generated insights and recommendations.
I'm excited about the future of CSM and the role AI will play in it. But I'm even more excited about how we, as professionals, will evolve alongside these technologies. Let's embrace the change while staying true to the human touch that makes customer success truly successful.
The Metrics Revolution
Remember when we used to rely on those one-size-fits-all metrics? Yeah, those days are long gone! Now, it's all about tailored, custom-fit analytics that are as unique as your business fingerprint.
Hey there, data enthusiasts and B2B trailblazers!
For this inaugural post on the site’s blog, I thought I would tackle a topic that has been very interesting to me recently—bespoke metrics. With the ever-changing customer landscape and the increasing push to data privacy and personalized marketing, it’s more important than ever that you have the correct metrics to track your customer satisfaction and accurately measure churn rate.
To me, this is an absolute game-changer in the B2B world. No company is exactly alike, and that remains true even down to your customers. Remember when we used to rely on those one-size-fits-all metrics? Yeah, those days are long gone! Now, it's all about tailored, custom-fit analytics that are as unique as your business fingerprint.
The Custom Analytics Revolution
Let's drop some truth bombs: Forrester recently spilled the tea that only a measly 6% of B2B organizations are killing it as advanced insight-driven businesses. Yikes! But hey, where there's a gap, there's an opportunity, right?
Trends That Are Shaking Things Up
1. AI: The Personalization Wizard
AI isn't just a buzzword anymore, folks. It's the secret sauce making our data delicious:
Lead quality? Up by a whopping 37% when AI picks the hottest prospects.
Sales cycles? Shrinking faster than my patience for bad coffee - we're talking 28% shorter!
2. Customer Success: The New North Star
B2B SaaS companies are all about those long-term value metrics now:
NPS (because who doesn't love a good score?)
Customer Retention Rate (keeping those customers stickier than honey)
Adoption Rate (because unused software is just expensive shelf decoration)
3. Show Me The Money: Revenue Intelligence
New tools are popping up faster than startups in Silicon Valley, giving us the lowdown on:
ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue, the subscription economy's BFF)
NDR (Net Dollar Retention, because growth is more than just new logos)
Revenue per Employee (because efficiency is sexy)
Cool Tools Alert!
Centralize (YC W24) for AI-powered account research, relationship insights, and network-led introductions.
Mutiny: Turning your content into a chameleon that adapts to every visitor.
SalesIntel: Like having a crystal ball for your sales team.
Best Practices (Because We All Need a Little Guidance)
Align those metrics with your goals. No point in measuring stuff that doesn't matter, right?
Break down those data silos. It's 2025, people - let's play nice and share!
Embrace AI like it's the last slice of pizza. Trust me, it's worth it.
Focus on insights you can actually use. Data for data's sake is so 2020.
Keep it fresh! Review and adjust your metrics like you update your playlist.
Crystal Ball Time: The Future of B2B Metrics
Predictive Analytics: Because knowing the future is way cooler than living in the past.
Real-Time Dashboards: For when you need to know things five minutes ago.
Cross-Platform Integration: Bringing all your data together like one big, happy family.
So, there you have it, folks! As we cruise through 2025, remember: in the world of B2B, bespoke is beautiful. Those who embrace custom analytics will be sipping success smoothies while others are still trying to figure out their blenders.