“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” — Henry Ford (allegedly)
It’s one of the most misunderstood truths in product building.
Too often, startups obsess over “listening to customers.” Surveys. Focus groups. Feature requests. But the hard truth?
Customers don’t always know what they need.
They speak in terms of what’s familiar:
- They wanted better taxis, not Uber.
- Better Blackberries, not iPhones.
- More targeted ads, not ChatGPT.
Listening is important. But interpreting is what matters.
When I work with teams, I always ask:
Are you solving for what users say they want, or what their behavior shows they need?
Innovation lives in the gap between what people ask for and what actually changes their life.
So how do you build what people need, and not what they say?
1. Watch behavior, not words
People lie-unintentionally. They say they want to read more, but spend hours on TikTok. Action > opinion.
2. Look for friction
What are people tolerating, hacking around, or complaining about quietly?
3. Solve root problems, not feature gaps
“Make the app faster” is rarely the real issue. Maybe the whole process should be redesigned.
4. Test, not just ask
Put something in people’s hands. See what clicks. Surprise them.
5. Ask: What’s the ‘faster horse’ in your industry?
What are users clinging to just because they’ve never seen a better way?
Case Study: The Real Game Changers Never Ask for Permission
- Stripe didn’t ask merchants if payments were painful. They made it invisible.
- Notion didn’t build more Word docs. They reinvented how teams think together.
- Tesla didn’t ask if you want an electric car. They made electric sexy.
If you’re building based on surface-level feedback, you’re improving the past.
If you’re building based on pain and potential, you’re inventing the future.
You don’t win by giving people what they asked for.
You win by giving them what they can’t live without—once they experience it.