Build for the Consumer

not the industry

Author

Steve O'Dell
January 25, 2024

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Hi Everyone 🙌

I was grabbing drinks with my friend Nate Rosen last week, and he said something that really stuck with me. 

“People Build for the Industry, not the Consumer”

So many companies have filed for bankruptcy in the last decade that were fundamentally built for the industry, not for the consumer. I’m reminded of a particular example of a new ice cream company. It was a KALE ice cream company, and no, it was not an April Fools joke. 

People don’t eat ice cream to be healthy. They eat it because it’s delicious, refreshing on a hot day, and comforting.

People eat Kale mainly for health reasons - and sometimes taste reasons. (Fun fact: Pizza Hut was the largest buyer of kale in the United States for years - they used it to decorate their salad bars)

Knowing this doesn’t take a savant-level intellect or deep consumer understanding; it’s basic. So why on earth would someone decide to build a kale ice cream company? 

It’s because there was a strong signal that an improved version of an existing category was the best way to get funded, to grow, and eventually exit. Founders had their marching orders and set out to improve the categories in many ways. Some emulated Toms and focused on sustainability and mission. Others added protein or reduced carbs. And the truly courageous folks launched Kale Ice Cream. 

In many a couple of cases, this worked out very well. Those improvements were indeed what the customer wanted, but in most cases, they flopped. After all, people still love sugar and most don’t actually care about your “mission” (no disrespect to missions, some people definitely care - just make it a great one)

It’s obvious that consumers must actually care about your brand. It’s imperative that they LOVE your product.

This begs the question, if you were to start a new company, how would you guarantee this? Or, if you’re already in business, as most of the readers are - how would you iterate from consumer ‘like’, to consumer love?

For those starting a new company, the easiest way to get this answer is to whip up a mock-website, fake brand, and run a small amount of paid traffic via Meta. Can you get any purchases, shares, or social proof from people you do not know at all? Your grandma doesn’t count. 

For those already in scale-city(read: business), go and read this essay by Rahul Vohra. The TL:DR, survey your customers, take their feedback, combine it with your intuition, and iterate on the product. If your company is nationwide in Costco, or doing hundreds of millions in retail, the changes will need to happen slowly but they should still happen.

Anyway, there is more to say about this topic - but I’ll save it for a later date. I don't want these newsletters to feel bloated or tiresome to read. 

If you have any thoughts on what I wrote above - please feel free to share your response. My favorite part about sending this newsletter is reading the responses. 

Here are the best things I read, watched, or listened to last week. 

I’m big-time into audio books right now while doing cardio. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!

Peace out 👋

Founder @ Tenzo & Commerce Chronicles

PS: If you made it this far, feel free to share it with friends! 

PSS: If you want to sponsor Commerce Chronicles - we’re offering extremely good starting rates. Hit me up!