How an earth do I figure who I am building this product for?

1. How to figure out who we are building for step-by-step

- Before figuring out who, figure out what hurts.

I guess this is similar to your problem finding exercise from previous posts. But in this instance, we don’t focus on ‘this is a product manager I am writing this newsletter for’, but to figure out what the pain is. Like I said, did I think about that, nope. It actually made it harder to write some of these articles and quickly got writing blocks.

It’s like, when you write down some daily goals etc, you’re more likely to have a productive day. So defining the ‘who’ helps the ‘how’. Lack of clarity is where things die.

So pain point for this is, tech & product can have a lot of jargon and too much to read & understand. Time is key for everyone so it needs to be something that fits into bitesize learning.

If that’s my pain point, who’s the sort of person that has that problem?
 
Startup founders, business owners, people in tech but not necessarily in product, non techies trying to expand the knowledge and product people who like to refresh and definitely people across sectors.

I know this because people from these backgrounds have either said, wrote on X or can understand themes on LinkedIn posts. But I figured this out after I started writing.

So the counter take is, don’t always overthink it, start & analyse & pivot.

- Write it out

Always write it out. This helps [specific person] who struggles with [painful thing they wish would go away].”

So for my newsletter it could be:

This helps early-stage founders, product builders, non-techies, and creatives who struggle to understand product thinking, tech trends, and AI chaos without feeling overwhelmed or gatekept.

- Stalk your audience

Let’s find those people. I need to find them whining in the wild. Now I have used my newsletter in this example but if I X or Reddit this I’m likely to find the tech cult.

So I need to find figure out where these people are hanging out. They’re on Linkedin, communities, events etc & even education.

In a regular product, you might find people complaining about the problem on socials.

‘Are there any ways I can order a cake in London and get it delivered?’ This problem I found a lot during Covid so it was seasonal.

These people become the easiest to convert. With my newsletter, this type of content attracts with authority, the more I post the more people tend to relate to the topic.

- Give your persona a name & a vibe

At this point a little human starts to form in your head. & it becomes easier to talk to them. To build a product they will use.

This is relevant for 0-1 type of things. When you’re in a large company, personas tend to be defined. So you think less about this as an exercise.

If you say are content creating, this is hard. Especially when you’re a lifestyle creator. The best creators are quite specific. Cooks, Chefs, Fitness etc. You create an identity & the right audience resonates with it.

So to conclude:

4 Steps to Finding Your Person:

1. Before figuring out who, figure out what hurts

2. Write it out - Use the “This helps [person] with [problem]” formula

3. Stalk your audience - Go read their rants (the internet is full of them)

4. Personify them like they’re your bestie

Might even work for finding your cofounder, life partner & so on. (all sorts of wisdom here <3)

2. Product goss of the week…

Starling Bank acquired accounting software Ember. You know what my big confession with Starling is? I love Anne Boden (beat the odds, started a company at 54, got shafted by tech bros etc) But I found Monzo first. As a product Monzo is hot so I always stuck with it out of convenience. Starling is great for business banking though.

This acquisition is worth £10m. Ember was founded in 2019 and is a bookkeeping tool for SMEs.

Talking of Monzo, they’re launching eSIMs, following Revolut/Klarna. It’s in early stages. This helps a lot on the banking cycle, given Monzo is used for travel alot. Exciting!

A UK AI Startup Meshad raises £950K pre-seed which is an AI startup insurance broker. The platform uses AI agents to automate quoting. insurer chasing & policy admin, cutting the quoting process from 1hr to 9 mins.

3. Product gems that made me howl…

Leaving you with my fave gem for your thoughts…

& finally, am I even up to anything great for your nosy?

Think I waffled a lot about myself this week, but It is my newsletter so…

• Productology relaunches soon. More on that incoming. Builders get ready…
  

• I’m coaching and have 2 slots for September if you are looking for a product startup/career coach.
  

• I did say I am building something, I’ll share more on that soon.