Lessons learned

On season 2 of The Supportive Podcast I spoke to the founders of 7 different companies to ask them about their very early days. The days when you can hardly help but be customer-centric, when every customer is critical and you’re desperate to understand what they want.

I was interested in how they all managed their transition into larger, more complex situations. What does it take to stay close to the customer when leaders are responsible for so many more moving parts in the business?

To wrap up this series, I’ve put together a video on the 5 recurring themes that I heard across those 7 interviews. 

7 episodes for 7 companies

1. Help Scout
2. ZSA (a maker of mechanical keyboards)
3. Wistia (a video platform)
4. YNAB (money management software)
5. Young Henrys (a brewery)
6. NapLab (mattress reviews)
7. MacSparky (Apple tech and productivity)

5 lessons

1. Be your own customer
2. Stay close to your customers
3. Values that drive actions
4. Growth, but not at all costs
5. Listening to support signals

If I was looking to join a company right now, I’d definitely look for one that was doing those 5 things:

They aren’t an iron-clad guarantee of customer-centric success, but if you’re looking for green flags, or wanting to build something yourself, then these are a good plan to follow.

Season 3 of The Supportive is coming soon, and for this one we’re leaving the c-suite and going s-tier. Support teams. I’m talking to frontline support (and some non-support folks) about past topics from this very newsletter. 

If you’re interested in being a guest on this season, please let me know! I’ll respond with some details for you.