People Don't Care About Your Product, They Care About Its Impact On Their Lives
Rather than help a consumer become more efficient, it's important to help them solve everyday, basic problems in their day. Simple, right? But this is the kind of statement that really bring value to having a mentor.
We'd like to introduce another African entrepreneur. Patrick Ndjientcheu, who created DJOSS TV, received some very strong advice from one of his mentors recently, and it's one of things I am always keeping in mind about the way consumers choose -- or don't choose - a product. This thinking states that consumer are more concerned with how the product fits into their lives, and helps them complete actions.
It reminds me a lot of how Clayton Christensen's Jobs to be done works. People don't make choices based on what you tell them a product does. They make choices about a product based on whether or not the product does something for their lives. Here's a brief interview with Ndjientcheu, who will be presenting at DEMO Africa on October 24. I've also included his pitch video, because it demonstrates what DJOSS TV does.
BizSpark: Who is your mentor, and what was the last great thing he or she told you and your team?
We currently have 2 mentors :
1. Ismael NZOUETOM, founder and CEO of the award winning french startup I-Dispo.
2. Rebecca Enonchong, AppsTech CEO and a seasoned entrepreneur.
Some months ago, while we were preparing our pitch for a challenge, Ismael told us :
"Don't forget: people don't care about your product, the only thing that matters to them is how it is going to change their life. "
This really struck us, as we were too focused on the product. From that time forward, we devoted more time to better understanding our users in order to be able to actually change their lives.
When was the last time you fell in love with a product?
Some months ago...with Evernote.
Our affair began via the web clipper. These days, I am so frustrated that I have to bookmark entire pages, although I am just interested in a paragraph or a sentence...In a search for a better web companion, I discovered Evernote and I was immediately delighted by the frictionless web clips capturing experience. Some web clips later, I also stopped using my desktop and iPhone notes software and switched to Evernote. Overnight, I found myself really "remembering everything". At this point, I realised I was going to spend my life with Evernote.
The product: