You Must Talk to Customers

Early on in my product career, I didn’t think I had to talk to customers. I mean, come on—are users really going to teach me something I don’t already know? The classic Henry Ford quote echoed in my head:

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

I thought building good products was about vision, intuition, and clever design—not conversations.

Then one day, I was out playing pickleball in the neighborhood. Between games, I was chatting with a friend and founder of a software company. We started talking shop—product, programming, tech—and he asked if I’d ever read Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres.

I hadn’t. But I ordered it on Amazon immediately.

Continuous Discovery Habits has changed how I think about building products. It's not just about “doing interviews” or validating ideas—it's about building the muscle of learning from users continuously. Not just once, but as a habit. Talking to customers isn't a nice-to-have. It is the way to build the right thing.

Now, I can’t imagine shipping anything without talking to the people I’m building for.