Kevin Mako Invites Former Target VP, West Stringfellow, on The Product Startup Podcast

The customer. They’re always right. They’re right because they vote with their wallet. It’s brutally simple – they either like what you’re offering or they don’t. As with any vote, they’ll have access to other options, in your case, competitors who are offering something different. If you’re not prioritizing customer-focused invention design, then chances are that your competitors are offering something better.

Don’t let this intimidate you. Indeed, you have an advantage here, even as a newcomer. Your competitors have publicly handed you a plethora of customer-related data through their reviews, social media, and various other channels. Inventors, take the time to communicate with your competitors’ customers and sift through the online data. You’ll be rewarded with an abundance of valuable information salient to identifying exactly what your customer really cares about.

This information is the cornerstone of any good product idea!

That’s how West Stringfellow rose through the ranks of Amazon, Target, Paypal, and Visa: through customer-focused design. He’s one of the latest guests on The Product Startup Podcast, which our CEO and President Kevin Mako hosts.

You won’t meet someone as passionate as West is when it comes to prioritizing the customer. In fact, every morsel of data collected and every impromptu chat is an opportunity for West to build new or add to existing customer profiles and include them in the development and ideation process.

Currently, he’s the Founder and CEO of HowDo, a free, open-source innovation education platform. It’s a full course perfect for inventors who want to learn more about customer-focused invention design. The course provides innovative insights and instructions including the following:

• Preparing yourself for the challenges of innovation.
• How to build a plan.
• Doing research on competitors and stakeholders.
• Understanding what type of capital to get.
• What tools are available to build a company
• How to form a dependable team.

About the Episode: Using Prospective Customers to Develop a Product

In this episode, West will teach you how to navigate conversations to help identify what your customer segments want, whether they’re saying it outright or through non-verbal cues. Learn how to frame questions to get the answers you need about your product. More specifically, West will cover three important topics to help you with customer-focused invention design:

• Why is the customer so important in the early ideation phases?
• What is the process of understanding the customer?
• How does it apply to creating an exceptional product and experience for the customer?

You can listen to the full episode here on your favourite listening platform!