Rework jason fried

Let your customers outgrow you 
 
Maybe you've seen this scenario: There's a customer that's paying a company a lot 
of money. The company tries to please that customer in any way possible. It tweaks and 
changes the product per this one customer's requests and starts to alienate its general 
customer base. 
 
Then one day that big customer winds up leaving and the company is left holding 
the bag--and the bag is a product that's ideally suited to someone who's not there 
anymore. And now it's a bad fit for everyone else. 
 
When you stick with your current customers come hell or high water, you wind 
up cutting yourself off from new ones. Your product or service becomes so tailored to 
your current customers that it stops appealing to fresh blood. And that's how your 
company starts to die. 

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After our first product had been around for a while, we started getting some heat 
from folks who had been with us from the beginning. They said they were starting to 
grow out of the application. Their businesses were changing and they wanted us to 
change our product to mirror their newfound complexity and requirements. 
 
We said no. Here's why: We'd rather our customers grow out of our products 
eventually than never be able to grow into them in the first place. Adding power-user 
features to satisfy some can intimidate those who aren't on board yet. Scaring away new 
customers is worse than losing old customers. 
 
When you let customers outgrow you, you'll most likely wind up with a product 
that's basic--and that's fine. Small, simple, basic needs are constant. There's an endless 
supply of customers who need exactly that. 
 
And there are always more people who are not using your product than people 
who are. Make sure you make it easy for these people to get on board. That's where your 
continued growth potential lies.  
 
People and situations change. You can't be everything to everyone. Companies 
need to be true to a type of customer more than a specific individual customer with 
changing needs.  
 
 
 
 
 
 

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