Your roadmap isn’t helping users!
Words I like: Most roadmaps are built for the founder’s ego, not user needs.
ANOTHER DAY
ANOTHER STARTUP INSIGHT
Your current roadmap is lying to you
You don’t need a better roadmap.
You need a real one.
Founders love to plan.
It feels productive.
Most founders build roadmaps for mostly 3 reasons:
– To feel in control
– To impress investors
– To look visionary
But most startup roadmaps are just a mirror…
Reflecting what you want to build
Not what customers need.
Problem?
Your customers don’t care about your shiny new features.
They care about their pain.
Your users already told you what to build
Your customers are voting every single day.
Not with surveys.
Not with feedback forms.
But with behavior — through questions, complaints, usage, drop-offs, upgrades.
If you're not listening, you're just guessing.
And if you're not delivering, they're already leaving.
You don't need more features.
You need to pay attention.
Because in the early stage, customer insight is product strategy.
Here’s how to fix it:
1. Mine your support inbox.
Go through your last 50–100 support tickets, live chats, and user complaints.
Look for repeated pain points.
Not edge cases or “nice-to-haves.”
✅ Ask yourself:
What frustrates users over and over again?
What are they trying to do but can’t?
What’s confusing, broken, or missing?
Don’t guess.
Let their words rewrite your roadmap.
This is your real customer feedback loop — and it’s free.
2. Audit your feature usage.
Log into your analytics tool (Mixpanel, Amplitude, whatever you use).
Pull usage reports over the last 30 days.
✅ Look for:
Features with high engagement = keep + improve
Features no one uses = kill or deprioritize
Features that drive retention = double down
Stop maintaining features no one uses.
Stop dreaming up ones no one asked for.
Your users have already voted — with their clicks.
3. Rank your roadmap by “retention impact.”
Here’s the golden filter for your roadmap:
“Will this feature make users stay longer and pay more?”
Not “Is this cool?”
Not “Will VCs like this in a deck?”
Not “Do I want to build this?”
✅ Reprioritize your roadmap based on:
Frequency of user requests
Severity of the pain
Impact on activation, retention, and referrals
This is how you build a product users can’t live without — not just one that demos well.
Example:
A founder I worked with wanted to build a new AI dashboard.
Flashy, beautiful, 6-week build.
I asked:
“What’s the #1 thing your users are struggling with?”
He said:
“People don’t know how to export their reports.”
So instead of building the AI dashboard, I suggested them to fix the export problem first.
It only took 2 hours.
But that small fix made a big impact:
Retention went up by 12%.
The AI dashboard?
Still in the backlog.
Takeaway:
Your ego builds features.
But your customers build your business.
Your ego wears many masks:
One builds flashy features
One wants to impress investors
Neither serves your customers
But your customers don’t care about your roadmap.
They just want their pain gone.
So stop building to look smart.
Start building to be useful.
Check what they actually ask for.
Fix the top 3 pain points.
Delight = retention.
See you next issue!
Gracie from What A Startup
Hi 👋 I’m testing a new startup insight format to bring you more practical value in less time. Instead of sending 1 long-form and in-depth insight per week (8–10 min read), I’m considering switching to 2 short-form and punchier insights per week (1–3 min reads)— like this one you just read. These would be: - More focused (1 big idea per email) - Easier to apply instantly - Save you time while still delivering value But before I make the change, I want your opinion:
📌 What more can I help you?
1. Promote your business to 1,000+ readers:
A shoutout right at the top of the email that can include a banner, a headline, 4 sentences, and a CTA button. A featured sponsor mention in 3 back-to-back newsletter issues for maximum visibility.
2. Share your startup story:
A dedicated feature/spotlight in our newsletter, including a compelling write-up of your startup’s story and mission, and a link to your website or landing page. Let's us tell your story!PS: Your investor loves the AI dashboard.
Your users just want the damn button to work.