Kapoor: Interviewing non-users yields more valuable insights than interviewing existing users
Mihika Kapoor · Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product, Figma) · Apr 21, 2024 · at 44:33
Figma PM Mihika Kapoor explains how product managers should conduct user research and identify barriers to adoption.
0:00 / 0:30exact quote · 30.0s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Something that I find incredibly useful Is to not just ask users of your product what they think about your product, but to ask non-users about your product why they are not using your product. And actually, I think that those are the most insightful conversations because I think that having a product shine and having a product do well and have great adoption isn't just about, like, the product being great. It's also about, like, the marketing and the perceptions that surround the product and potentially, like, the hype that surrounds that, right?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Mihika Kapoor
Kapoor: Figma prototypes before greenlighting projects rather than relying on TAM
“We lean heavily into designing and prototyping even before a project gets a green light. So I think that's something that's really unique about Figma is normally you will like talk about like the market space or the opportunity or the sizing and then decide to…”
Kapoor: AI products fail users by optimizing for demos over interactive control
“In my mind, one of the biggest shortcomings of AI, the way that a lot of people are building it today is that it's like optimized for the demo. Or optimized for the tweet, right? And it's basically this situation where, like, I think about it as, like, in my m…”
Kapoor: Exposing early products before they seem ready accelerates learning
“I think what you find is that if you push your product to get visibility, maybe even beyond what like the current stage of product development merits, is that you have really incredible learnings. Because the more that you can put your product in front of peop…”
Kapoor: Disagreements over product strategy stem entirely from differing assumptions
“When two people disagree about product strategy, it is because they have different assumptions. Because if you have the same assumptions, Like, there is no reason why a person should think, like, we should do X versus we should do Y.”
Kapoor: Product managers should lean into their individual spikes and strengths
“And so I think that, you know, based on how you fell into it, you might have different spikes and different strengths and leaning into those is really important. For the other things, it's also, of course, important to have like a sort of growth mindset and to…”
Kapoor: Anchoring teams on a singular vision makes pivots feel like progress
“It is really important to create a vision that you believe in, that your team believes in, and that your company believes in. Because the reality of the product development cycle is that it's so messy. It's so chaotic. You're going to have, you know, extreme h…”