

How important is user experience when you are still finding your product market fit? - mingyeow

As a very young startup who is into our third complete revamp of our product, we are constantly facing a question - how much time should we spend on the UI?<p>The first couple of times we optimized the UI, it was all wasted, as it proved to be the wrong product from a high level point of view. Now on our third iteration, we find ourselves optimizing the UI too, because it is hard to get good feedback with a sucky UI.<p>Any thoughts?
======
eries
if you have excellent product-market fit, your early adopters will struggle
through your terrible UI to get the incredible benefit they see from your
product. If that's not happening, it's probably not the UI's fault.

Do an in-person usability test, where you can explain to the person exactly
how to use the product (violating all the normal rules of usability testing).
If they still don't like the product - either they are not a target customer
or you don't have any customers out there. Do the test again - if the same
thing keeps happening, you know it's the latter.

~~~
mingyeow
Hey Eries, thanks! Do you have any examples (whether it is yourself or someone
else) with this experience?

~~~
eries
Oh yes, many many times. It works, if you have the stamina to stick it out
(it's painful).

------
donniefitz2
If you are on your third revamp of a product and you don't know what your
"market fit" is, you have a serious problem. Why do you have a product with no
understanding of your market? Maybe you don't have a market. But, wait, you
have a product. Hmm. Looks like the cart before the horse.

~~~
mingyeow
Hmmm.... i am not sure if that is a fair statement to make. Most startups
spend lots of time developing their product, and do not find a market at the
end.

We know there is definitely a market - the problem is that it is not easy to
build a product for it, hence we are trying to re-iterate to the right
product-market fit.

------
pclark
you should know your market and have good predictions of uptake before you
start coding ...

