Ask Teresa: What if Your Buyers Aren’t Your Users?

Teresa Torres argues that B2B and B2C discovery are less different than people assume, since most consumer products also serve multiple stakeholders such as advertisers or content providers. The key issue in enterprise settings is that the buyer and the end user are often different people, and optimizing only for the buyer can put renewals at risk because unused software won't be renewed. She recommends building primarily for users while building just enough 'check the box' features to unlock sales. The deciding factor for further investment is continuous discovery: validating whether users will actually adopt a requested feature.

01Key takeaways

• Recognize that most products serve multiple stakeholders, so B2B and B2C discovery share core principles.
• Build your main investment around the end user's actual workflow, not only the buyer's stated requests.
• Build minimal 'check the box' versions of sales-requested features that demo well but avoid over-investing early.
• Before expanding a requested feature, use discovery to confirm that end users will actually adopt it.
• Watch adoption after launch and iterate quickly if a minimal feature gets used and draws negative feedback.
• Manage both the sale and ongoing engagement, since winning a deal does not guarantee renewal.

02Key sections

B2B vs. B2C Is Overstated

Torres reframes the distinction, noting that consumer products also balance several stakeholders, like advertisers and content providers. Multi-party ecosystems are the norm in both models.

The Buyer-User Gap

When the person buying software is not the person using it, satisfying only the buyer can win the deal short-term but jeopardize renewal. Adoption by end users determines whether customers stay.

Check-the-Box Features for Sales

Teams should invest heavily in what users actually use, while building minimal features that demo well enough to close deals. Such features should not receive full polish until user demand is proven.

Using Discovery to Decide Investment

Before expanding a requested feature, teams should investigate why the buyer wants it and whether end users will use it. If users adopt it, the minimal version should become a real feature.

Staying Open to Being Wrong

If a checkbox feature does get used and users find it unsatisfactory, teams should iterate quickly. Consumer buying decisions show the same pattern, where features sell but ease of use drives ongoing engagement.

03From the post

“At its core, product discovery is a simple concept. By talking to our customers regularly, we can collect insights into their unique problems, needs, and desires (or what I often refer to as “opportunities”). We then use these insights to guide the products we build. However, many people worry that”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.