The world is becoming increasingly noisy. More products, more sales pitches, more demands on time, attention, and budgets. For software companies, it's become increasingly difficult to stand out. In a recent blog post, Evan Armstrong made the argument that a businesses core responsibilities are "(1) Create stuff, (2) Acquire customer to buy stuff, and (3) Distribute that stuff." The internet made the cost of distribution near zero, and now with the recent wave of generative AI, the cost of creation is also approaching zero. The only costly activity left? Customer acquisition.
In an increasingly noisy world, companies have turned to unique ways of acquiring their customers. One significant trend has been the rise of product-led growth. Companies have let their products do the talking for them, attracting customers not with expensive marketing campaigns or flashy advertising, but with high-quality features and easy-to-use functionality.
Over time, the focus on product quality gave rise to an emphasis on user communities. Open source, developer-focus, and the consumerization of enterprise SaaS made it increasingly important to meet your users where they were. Many of the memos we're releasing this week are built around these trends. Companies like Common Room exist to help companies better understand their communities of users. Products like Sourcegraph and Linear were built with customer delight in mind. Products have shifted their focus to be customer-obsessed, rather than sales-obsessed. "If you build it, they will come."
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