Design Partner
topic on 10 shows · 23 statements across 18 episodes
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22 statements about Design Partner, every show
Lewke: 100% of Nebulock's early design partners converted to paying customers
“Every single one of our design partners converted to a paying customer.”
Lewke: Design partners unwilling to meet weekly ignore the core problem
“If someone is not willing to give you 30 minutes a week, how much do they really value the problem you're solving?”
Hastings: Startups should make design partners pay from the beginning
“Paying from the beginning. I think that's really important to make sure that the customer says this thing is valuable enough for me to pay.”
Englander: B2B founders will fail unless they work from design partners' offices
“If you've got a design partner that you're speaking to once a week, you're almost certainly gonna fail, right? If you've got a design partner that you are working from their office, and ideally sat next to them, you're almost certainly going to succeed.”
Abel: Design partners are the hardest logos to upsell into full rollouts
“Design partners are incredible. They are the hardest logos to upsell, meaning go from design partner to full rollout customer. So like, don't expect these people to be your million dollar pipeline.”
Batti: Whatfix requires at least three design partners before launching any product
“We will not roll out a product unless we have three design partners. And you can say at least 60 to 70% of the design partners are Fortune 500 companies.”
Mukherjee: Rox refuses unpaid design partners in favor of paid pilots
“We don't do any free design partners. Like we really focus on doing paid customers with like a pilot clause.”
Reshef: Gong pods collaborate with up to 24 design partners each
“Every pod is working with sometimes a dozen design partners, sometimes two dozen design partners, maybe sometimes five if it's a very niche or fringe capability.”
Reshef: Launching SaaS products without design partners relies too much on luck
“I don't think that's a great idea because that company is successful, bigger than gone, but at the same time, I just think it's leaving too much in the hands of, I would even call it luck, right? Because how do you know?”
Lemkin: Every Failed Startup He Backed Over-Relied on Design Partners
“All the investments I've since done that had good founders that went to zero, good founders that went to zero, they had a lot of design partners. They didn't hustle. They didn't go get real customers. They didn't get to product market fit.”
Moubeche: Non-paying design partners do not validate software products
“I think you shouldn't call someone design partner if they don't spend anything, you know, like it's not a design partner. It's like it's your grandmother being nice with you and telling you that you are like the most handsome person in the world, you know, lik…”
Half of Datadog design partners drop off after pricing is introduced
“When the product is ready, when it's great, about half of the design partners just disappear.”
Zaparde: "Design Partners" Are Just A Euphemism For Free Customers
“Getting free customers or design partners which is, I think a euphemism for a free customer.”
Every Gong product manager actively works with 6 to 12 design partners
“Each one of them is working at any point in time with probably somewhere between half a dozen to a dozen design partners. So if you think about just like how many design partners does Gong have at this point in time, 20, 24, that's quite a bit, and we haven't …”
Early-stage founders should not prioritize getting paid by initial design partners
“I think early stage, I would not worry about payment as a key thing.”
Gong converted 11 of its 12 free beta design partners to paid
“So we had like a 12 design partners. We got them through a network and a consultant we had worked with, and then we all, it was all free... We called all of them and said, hey, beta is over. We're starting to charge something. That was six months into the comp…”
Reshef: Winning competitive deals is much harder than satisfying design partners
“Building to call it like outcome to make sure it provides the outcome is any way easier. You work with the design partner, you build it together, you see that you get the outcome. Building to make sure you can actually compete successfully, win 50, 60, 70, 80%…”
Gonto: PLG startups should launch closed with six to eight design partners
“I think that a product growth company should always start with design partners. You should always start closed with six to eight customers that you can find through your network, your business network. You get to better understand, get closer to PMF, at least …”
Tailored Products for Design Partners Beat Best-in-Class SaaS Incumbents
“If you actually find one or two design partners and you just build for them, they will love you way more than the best in class SaaS product that's already in the market.”
Podjarny: Top-down CTO design partners undermine product-led growth products
“If you want to build a product-led growth company, and all of the feedback you get is from a dozen design partners that you work with in a top-down fashion with sort of the CTO, then, you know, you will optimize for something, but it's unlikely that you would …”
Lakritz: Paying customers demand perfection unlike tolerant design partners
“Once a customer moves to be a paying customer and not a design partner, like he is in the customer discovery. You know, there is less patience. They look for the perfect product, which in the customer discovery stage, the whole setup with your customers and th…”