#13 Winning by Design | Juha Paananen | Slush 2023

Discover how to win by design by building a product that resonates with your audience, rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

Key takeaways

Building a product without understanding your audience is a common mistake that can result in failure. It’s crucial to choose your audience wisely.
Having a small, niche audience is better than trying to appeal to everyone and ending up with no one.
Building something that makes someone happy or excited is more important than building something that solves a problem.
You can’t assume that your product will automatically solve someone’s problem. You need to understand their motivations and what they want to achieve.
Being intentional about who your early users are is vital. Don’t try to guess who your users will be, create a clear plan and execute it.
Building a product for yourself or being close to your users is key. Try to understand their behaviors and what they want, not just their opinions.
It’s okay to be polarizing and have some people hate your product if it means that others love it.
Don’t just build what users want, build something that gives them superpowers or makes them experience something new.
You don’t need to try to compete with big companies, focus on building something unique and different.
Building a product takes time and effort, don’t be afraid of making mistakes and learning from them.

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