Rahul Awasthy

The key to validation is a 360 approach and not relying on a few signals alone. Market research is one way to validate product differentiation. AI through chatGPT or other tools can give us a framework. For example Competitive Analysis Customer Interviews and Surveys- use tools that offer real-time sentiment, user feedack, seasonal testing Market Trends and Industry Reports - Gartner, G2, Forrestor, others Beta Testing and MVP Feedback: Super helpful in early days but this will definitely change ...Read More

It depends on a few factors. How is segmentation being used ? - for campaigns, to generate pipe, for sales motions ? At what stage of the sales cycle is segmentation proving to be most effective ? early qualification or pipe-gen vs mid-stage ? In order for broad pipe-gen efforts, cohorts are often more helpful than pure segments based on basics such as demographics, age, buying power, titles, etc. They are a start. Revaluation on a quarterly basis is helpful, but must be aligned with the goals f ...Read More

When thinking about PMF research, it can be variable but the approach of documented Iterative loops is helpful. For example Loop1 has 4 key variables to test for by any market research method - Those variables maybe product features, competitive options, messaging and category-maturity - Loop1 can be run for a quarter Loop2 has another 4 key variables - similar product features as loop1, but different competitive approach, adapted messaging to select customers and category could be all maturity ...Read More

Managing scattered customer feedback can indeed be challenging. Thinking about a single account/users to connect the feedback is needed often and systems may not be set up for that. For basics, explore and play with AI - even chatGPT and tools that allow chaining of feedback will enable summary analysis and insight extraction Some approaches that maybe helpful are - Customer Feedback Platforms: Qualtrics - has solutions based on use-cases such as NPS, VoC, CX and EX Salesforce - Often under-util ...Read More

Great question and It depends on who is asking or how we define "moving the needle" A company is moved by several key needles (so to speak) depending on what they need. A mature company moves the needle by executing at scale. An immature product is searching for product-market-fit and market research may not even be really useful, so better to conduct user-research If the focus is revenue, most research that helps is buyer behavior- Really understanding the pain and the "need behind the need". I ...Read More

Great question. Some of this is a human/org challenge and part of it is a tool challenge. Tip: Humans are far more unpredictable and challenging than software :) So figuring our the org dynamics at your company is key - Who owns this centralized feedback and do they have the systems set up. Let's say at the very manual stage - it's gathering data, using an AI tool to summarize and there is no automation or central data-lake. Product,Marketing, Sales and CS leaders have to align on what is they b ...Read More

I made this jump and it wasn't easy - here's my guidance based on experience. Find a leader who believes in you. Very often people don't tell you this one thing - Promotions are personal in the sense that someone is taking the risk that you will succeed at an unproven level. The assumption is you already have the base-skills as your peers who also qualify for that promotion Take Risk politically in medium/large orgs - Demonstrate that you can lead a project, an idea and market ALL aspects of it. ...Read More