Building Something People Want: Key Insights from David Katz's Lecture

Speaker

• David Katz: Designer, developer, founder with 7 years experience
• Founded 3 companies, worked with Google on startup education programs
• Delivered talks in various cities globally, engaging with 100 startups yearly

Key Message

• Core theme: Building something people want
• Startup Failure Rate: 70%-90% do not succeed
  • Not due to the lack of building but creating something people don't want

The Challenge for Startups

• Startups face immense friction; people aren't eagerly awaiting new products
• Necessity to solve a problem in a way that is 10x better than alternatives
• Resistance to Change: Small improvements often aren't enough to attract users

Importance of a Superior Product

• First versions often have bugs and communication issues
• A significantly better product can overcome initial shortcomings

Approach to Building a Superior Product

• Wrong Approach: Merely matching every feature of a competitor
• Better Strategy: Offering a new perspective and understanding of a problem
  • Example: MixTiles (app to get photos from phone to wall)
    • Lacked features but excelled in its core function: easily moving photos to walls
    • Focused on solving a specific problem despite competitive market

Maintaining Focus on the Core Problem

• Measure every new feature against the core problem-solving goal
  • Example from MixTiles: Deciding not to include cropping feature as it didn't enhance core function

Measuring Success

Data-Driven Technique

• Retention Metrics: Tracks return usage by customers
• 30 Day Active: Percentage of users still using the product after 30 days
  • Significance: Indicates genuine user interest beyond initial curiosity

Customer Feedback

• Encourage easy feedback access (buttons, email options)
• Look for extreme reactions: love or anger
  • Passionate feedback indicates strong product engagement, even if it’s negative

Summary

• Focus intensely on building something people want
• Aim for a product that is substantially better than existing solutions
• Measure success via retention rates and passionate customer feedback
• Commit internally to the goal of meeting user needs authentically

Conclusion

• A set of strategies to help build products that people genuinely need and want
• Encouragement to apply these tools in your startup journey

Good luck!