Nice article, Ross. A good, measured take on the situation. I particularly agree with your points about speaking to customers — they are experts in their EXPERIENCE of their problems... not how to solve those problems. They can't reliably tell you what they need, or even whether they'd be willing to pay for X if it were available. You need to bring your own insight, expertise, and perspective to these conversations, or the value will be severely limited.
"...in security, this maps cleanly to products that satisfy compliance requirements (must-haves or painkillers) and products that don’t (nice-to-haves or vitamins)." — Unfortunately, this is true. I've had too many conversations with founders who had built something they deemed important, but which the market clearly had no appetite for.
Nice article, Ross. A good, measured take on the situation. I particularly agree with your points about speaking to customers — they are experts in their EXPERIENCE of their problems... not how to solve those problems. They can't reliably tell you what they need, or even whether they'd be willing to pay for X if it were available. You need to bring your own insight, expertise, and perspective to these conversations, or the value will be severely limited.
"...in security, this maps cleanly to products that satisfy compliance requirements (must-haves or painkillers) and products that don’t (nice-to-haves or vitamins)." — Unfortunately, this is true. I've had too many conversations with founders who had built something they deemed important, but which the market clearly had no appetite for.
If you do it I am on
Great post, Ross. Many points are also relevant for B2B software outside of cybersecurity