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About the Episode
How do you identify and solve problems with software? Well today’s guest shares his approach which he coined empathetic innovation and the two questions you should ask when talking to potential users. Plus, we talk about how he successfully launched on Kickstarter, product design, how to name products and so much more.
Alexander Obenauer is Founder & CEO at Mindsense.
Show Notes
Empathetic Innovation and How to Identify and Solve Problems
Empathetic innovation for Alex’s team means having a very intentional process around innovation and how they come up with their products and their features. With this, they are not married to their product but rather to the processes which gave birth to their products. In this way, you can keep coming up with solutions to your customers’ problems. This process that they have shapes the way they identify and solve problems with software. The steps include: Finding a problem which resonates with people which basically involves talking to people. The second step is then shopping around that solution to see if it resonates with people. The third step is constantly having conversations with people about that solution for two huge reasons: to iterate on the core concept and to iterate on the language around that core concept.
Successfully Launching on Kickstarter
Alex had launched a Kickstarter campaign on January 2012 and had ended up with $54k from 1600 backers. He shared that this success started with 3-4 months of preparation so most of the work was done before the actual campaign. He shares that you got to have a lineup of backers way beforehand to get the ball rolling, build up buzz with a mailing list on it before it launches, spend time making a short video ensuring you communicate your message well and spend time talking with potential customers to figure out what they want. These are the things that ultimately made their campaign a success. Any wins came from all the work done before the campaign.
Show Mentions
– Flow, the secret to happiness
– Throttle
– How we named our new product, Throttle
– Fav app: Nuzzel: (iTunes | Google Play)