Understand Exactly Who This Product Is For

Let’s assume I have already defined the product idea, understood its basic functionality, and clearly identified the exact problem it solves for real users. The next step in developing this idea is to understand which specific group of people feels this problem most strongly and to try to narrow that group down as much as possible.

A broad audience is almost always misleading

Some time ago, I had an idea to create an app for practicing touch typing while learning a foreign language. At first glance, it seems that almost anyone wants to learn some foreign language, most often English, so they can speak, read, and write it freely. It would seem that the audience for such a product is almost the whole world. But in reality, it is not that simple.

Different people have different needs when learning a foreign language. For some, it is a way to feel more confident abroad: ordering food, asking for information, or dealing with basic everyday situations. For others, it is a professional necessity, where specific vocabulary, slang, and communication style matter. And some people learn a language simply for themselves, to keep their mind active or to enjoy the process itself.

Why you should not build a product for everyone at once

If you try to cover the needs of all these groups at the same time, the initial product functionality quickly grows to a huge scale, and the launch gets delayed indefinitely. This leads to another important problem: the later the product gets released and the later real people start using it, the later you understand which decisions were right and which were not. Which features actually have value and are really used, and which ones were built for nothing.

Besides that, each of these groups has a different level of motivation and evaluates the value of the product differently. This means their willingness to pay can also vary significantly. Spending time building features for people who will use the service just out of curiosity and will most likely not be ready to pay is not a very smart decision. It is much more logical to first focus on users for whom the product solves a truly painful need, who can immediately feel its value, and who may potentially be willing to pay for it.

Why a narrow audience is more valuable at the start

That is why, even at the early stages of building a product, it is important to clearly define who the most valuable audience is and who you should focus on first. First, you need to satisfy their needs, and only after that think about scaling, expanding the functionality, and finding new ways to attract other user groups.

Another important point is that attracting such an audience is usually much easier. If we return to the example of an app for touch typing and learning English, it is much easier to attract a developer who wants to type faster to work more efficiently and improve English at the same time for reading documentation and communicating with foreign colleagues. For this person, the value of the product is clear almost immediately.

On the other hand, attracting someone who does not use a computer very confidently and simply heard somewhere that learning a foreign language is good for memory would be much harder. At the start, it is not worth spending resources on such a broad and vague audience. It is much better to focus on people who will immediately understand the value of the product and have enough motivation to start using it.

Conclusion

To summarize this post, I would say that at the start, it is important not to try to build a product for everyone at once. It is much more valuable to clearly understand who it will be most useful for right now and focus specifically on that audience.

If a product is for everyone, then at the start it is most likely not for anyone in particular.