How can you build a product that is intuitive for early adopters?

The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework is an effective way to identify pain points. This approach focuses on understanding the 'job' a user hires a product or service to accomplish. For example, a startup aiming to launch a new fitness app might discover through JTBD interviews that potential users aren't just seeking exercise routines but a holistic approach to health that includes mental well-being. The pain point isn't just 'lack of fitness routines', but 'lack of comprehensive health guidance'. Address such nuanced pain points, and you can tailor your product to resonate deeply with early adopters.

Building an intuitive product for early adopters is both challenging and feasible. You just need to know your audience and the vocabulary they understand. First, it is important to understand the problem inside out and invent a solution that seamlessly helps that problem. Then, communicate it in easy terms or the vocabulary that your audience understands natively. Remember, When bitcoin launched, Satoshi used words in the white paper that were native to web2 people; he did not mention anything about hashing, or marketing web3 terms (fluff). When you first launch an innovative product, communication in an easy-to-understand language is the main tool to attract early adopters, as long as you solve their problem of course.

One of the methods used in market research and helps in developing target audience persona, especially early adopters would be customer discovery, throughout the exploration the startups builds an understanding of: 1) What is needed and expected. 2) What their product can be compared to. With that they design it accordingly and target to distinguish it with their own take on the user experience that feels an looks similiar, yet aim to attracts the first adopters through it.

Frankly speaking, a start-up works best if the team has experienced the pain themselves, looked for a solution and did not find any. In this case, pain point, key targets and "the need" is obvious. Any "theoretical" approach needs much more of profund research before investing into a start-up makes sense.

Besides your potential users, it is important to also talk to other stakeholders including buyers, domain experts, even competitors to grasp the full picture of the problem and solution landscape you are in

Part of the product manager (PM) role, is to balance between the business needs and the feature development of the product. Most successful PM's are the ones able to focus on the absolute basic requirements to launch the product to the market and get the earliest feedback from the target audience to be able to get reasonable data that can be analyzed to validate the product and be an input for the next iteration

It is important to understand that a user picks up a product only for that ONE feature that speaks to their problems. A new product is rarely picked up for being a bouquet of solutions. Multiple features make the product more sellable only at a later stage.

Utilizing the Lean Startup methodology is pivotal for startups aiming to build intuitive products for early adopters. This approach emphasizes the importance of building a product iteratively based on continuous feedback and learning. E.g. a startup developing a new task management app might begin by releasing a basic version with only task creation and tracking features. Early adopters would then use this MVP and provide feedback. If users need collaboration tools, the startup can prioritize this feature in the next iteration. Conversely, a feature can be refined or discarded if it isn't resonating. This iterative process makes the product evolve based on user needs and feedback, minimizing assumptions and maximizing value delivery.

After you identify your audience and understand the core problem, fix that first without overcomplicating it. Often, as a start-up founder, I am also keen on improving and keep adding features, however, users just want an easy UI/UX to solve their main problem first, especially for early adopters. I learned this through user interviews and surveys and adjusted our start-up strategy. Focus on the solution of the core problem, then add features on a monthly basis one by one, allowing your users to get used to it before moving to the next.

MVP, MVP, MVP .... Reduce complexity to the Minimal Viable Product and take it to the market. Have the first "testers" working with it in "real life mode". I even would not call them early adopters at that stage. This feedback is most important to understand a) what functions work as needed b) what functions do not work as needed c) what functions are essential to add Very likely the priorities and gaps defined by the potential customers deviate from the anticipated priorities of the solution designers. Not an issue - if you are just adaptive enough to change the plan in your mind. Just remember: as a start-up you do not have time nor money to lose.

People want to reach the solution you offer as seamlessly as possible, with less fluff and instructions. Having a simple UI can help you reduce any second thoughts, keep what is important, don't overthink it.

Less is more. An intuitive user interface becomes the bare minimum these days. Go out to ask real people to use your products and observe how different they may interact with the interface you design.

Utilizing established HTML frontend frameworks and templates can be the shortcut for simplifying the user interface. Thes frameworks provide a set of design principles and components that ensure a consistent and intuitive user experience across platforms. Their emphasis on grid-based layouts, responsive animations, and depth effects like lighting and shadows make interfaces more understandable, mobile-first and user-friendly. With these frameworks, startups can ensure that their product's UI is aesthetically pleasing and functionally streamlined, catering effectively to early adopters. Adopting these established design systems can significantly reduce the development time and ensure that the UI aligns with user expectations.

Simplicity in the sense of usability is king. However, what developers believe what is easy to use and nice design might not be the same as the customer's perception. Try a version which is good enough and be prepared that you need to heavily re-work it. One essential implication: Always try to disconnect the User-Interface from the application processes, so that changes in the UI can be performed without impacting the functionality. Best Practices can be a good guidance, but usually why are not "disruptive". So, if you are looking at a disruptive interaction with your users this might not be the best choice for your solution. On the other side, disruption just for the sake of disruption usually does not work.

'Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'. We all know that presenting things in a simple way is way harder than going into detail. However, without making your UI and UX simple and comprehensible, especially at the early stage, you risk losing the user, let alone retaining them. Your user should be able to perform the expected key action IN 3 CLICKS - that's a good and clear rule to follow. From my experience, the problem of convenient UI/UX is particularly acute for web3 products, where the tech stack is complex in nature and thus requires an effort to hide it. A good tip here is to design the product in such a way that a kid or your mum is able to understand how to use it.

We do Usability Testing with early adopters. It involves observing real users as they interact with your product, aiming to identify areas of friction or confusion. Define clear objectives. What specific aspects of the user experience are you keen to evaluate? Recruit a participant group that mirrors your target audience. Prepare a set of tasks you'd like them to perform on your product. Observe their actions, listen to their feedback, and note any challenges they encounter. Tools like "UserTesting" can facilitate remote sessions, capturing user interactions and verbal feedback. Post-session, analyze the results, identify patterns, and then prioritize. Use these insights to guide product enhancements.

Testing is highly essential. First step: test by yourself, so that you are aware of the pitfalls. Then test jointly with the test clients. This is important a) to capture all findings b) to help them manoeuvre through the application c) to avoid frustration, dissatisfaction and bad feelings if they get stuck somehow. Only if you discover, that users are able to use your solution without any support, then you should release it for a wider user group.

While attracting the early user is essential for the kickoff and first feedback gathering, you should design the product to be further easily adapted to the mass user. This is something that founders and product managers often turn a blind eye to, willing to launch as fast as possible. The problem is - the needs and wits of an early adopter can substantially differ from those of a mass user. Hence, make sure the core functionality can be adjusted and gradually make your product accessible to the mass user, gathering feedback and satisfying their preferences.