Most business gurus will agree that consumers want authenticity. Unfortunately, all businesses must make money, making it difficult for startups to promote their services or products without looking like shameless speculators. Consumers know that all businesses want to make a profit, but consumers are more inclined to deal with companies that seem to put consumers before profits. That’s why building a public model is one of the best ways for tech companies to avoid unreality problems and ultimately master the fit of their products with the market.
Before I go into some examples of successful construction in public startups, let me define some of the most important terms I am using:
What does “built in a public place” mean?
Unlike many business jargons that confuse the layman, building in public places is almost what it sounds like. When a start-up company creates a product or service in public, it allows people to see its construction process from the beginning. This method has several important purposes.
First, creating apps in public will essentially create greater transparency, which helps build brand trust. This, in turn, helps companies appear more authentic and less selfish. Most companies hide their practices from competitors, but while doing so, they also hide important elements of the brand from consumers. Finding a balance between transparency and knowledge security is the key to any new product.
Second, the integrated public model allows consumers to test products or services and provide suggestions on how to improve them. Needless to say, getting advice directly from consumers before the product launch is invaluable. Start-ups don’t need to conduct extensive market research projects or focus groups to gather information, they only need to disclose their products to the public while they are still in production. Once the startup has collected the data it needs, it can improve the product to meet the needs of the target audience.
Third, creating products in public places helps startups build an audience before they officially launch. This may be the most valuable aspect of public building models. Start-ups don’t need to spend a lot of time, energy, and money on marketing, just show their products to the public during the Alpha and/or Beta stages. This helps to generate interest because many consumers like to focus on the product during product development and ideally have some opinion on the end result.
What is product-market adaptability?
Finally, building in public places allows start-ups to optimize product and market fit (sometimes writing product/market fit). Product market matching refers to the degree to which a new product meets the needs of the public. By creating products in public view, startups can allow users to interact with the product, collect feedback, and modify the product to meet market needs. Ultimately, this will contribute to more successful product launches and better long-term consumer engagement.
Some companies even use the concept of openly building and adjusting product markets. For example, Product Hunt is a popular application that enables users to share new or upcoming products in the technical field. The Product Hunt application allows consumers to better understand the public embedded products to try.
How they are superhuman and quickly become the so-called “king of product-market adjustment”
Concepts such as “public construction” and “product-market adjustment” are easy to tell from a bird’s-eye view. However, if you want to improve your startup or optimize your product before launch, you will want to know that the built-in public model really works in practice. So, let’s take a look at some real-world examples of tech startups using embedded public models to understand the fit between products and the market.
Superhuman
Although some people, including myself, call it “hype,” the Superhuman email application is still one of the most popular products in technology. Whether you believe in the hype and the products or not, it’s undeniable that Superhuman has established a huge audience, and they believe that Superhuman is one of the hottest tech startups on the market. So how did Superman gain such notoriety? More importantly, why is a seemingly simple email application priced so high, at $30 per month? This is because Superhuman founder and CEO Rahul Vohra used construction models in public to figure out how he redesigned the existing email process to meet consumer needs.
According to TechCrunch, Superhuman’s core strengths are “speed” and the feeling that users are part of an “exclusive club”. Essentially, Superhuman is designed for people who spend hours checking their email every day. Superhuman makes certain processes more efficient, giving people more time to focus on other tasks. The desktop version is particularly useful because it focuses on keyboard shortcuts, although they are not customizable. Also, although there is no unified inbox, the app provides helpful tips and tricks that allow you to move through email more quickly.
All these characteristics were developed through a well-constructed public strategy. Vohra and his team released the app to a small number of users in the alpha phase. Later, they expanded and improved the original vision based on user feedback. Now, Superhuman has more than 100,000 users waiting in line to pay for the app, and the company is valued at more than $ 260 million.
Fast
Fast is an appropriately named application that allows you to centralize your online payment process. Quick users do not need to use multiple passwords and two-factor authentication, they can easily complete the online payment with one click. Like Superhuman, Fast creates its products in public, ensuring that the applications meet the needs and demands of consumers while cultivating its loyal audience.
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