If early users like a startup's vision but fail to adopt the product deeply, is it a product, positioning, or customer behavior issue?
2026-03-28 · Lounge
Hi, Welcome. Here's my default assumption: Product problem.
If people love the story but don’t change their behavior, the product isn’t delivering enough real, repeated value. Founders love blaming positioning because it’s more flattering. “They just don’t get it.” Usually, they get it fine. They just don’t need it badly enough.
Good positioning can get someone to try you. It cannot force deep adoption. And “customer behavior problem” is often just founder denial in a nice suit.
So I’d ask: what pain are they solving today without you? Why isn’t your product better than that? What habit are you trying to replace, and is the reward strong enough to overcome inertia?
Until users come back on their own and expand usage naturally, I assume the product hasn’t earned its place. Fix that first.
(I'll add that since you are new here, I don't have the deeper understanding of what you're working on, or how far you've gotten. I'll give you better advice once I get to know you better.)
Good luck!
Public Hand Raises only. Questions anonymized; answers are Marc Randolph's mentorship responses with names redacted.