_edited.jpg)
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and a leading voice in startups, has some blunt advice for founders: Talking to users isn’t about seeking compliments. Altman’s experience mentoring thousands of startups through Y Combinator taught him that most founders fail at truly understanding their users because they don’t dig deep enough.
Photo: TechCrunch
Why Founders Get User Feedback Wrong
Altman describes the classic mistake:
A founder calls a user and asks, “Do you like my product?”
The user, not wanting to disappoint, says, “Yeah, it’s fine.”
The founder feels validated, hangs up, and assumes everything’s great.
This superficial interaction leads nowhere. People are often too nice to be brutally honest, which means the feedback founders get isn’t actionable.
The Real Way to Talk to Your Users
Altman says you need to go much further:
Observe How They Use It: Watching users interact with your product uncovers pain points. Are they clicking where they shouldn’t? Are they confused? These “weird” behaviors often reveal what users really want.
Ask the Hard Questions:
Have you recommended this to anyone? If not, why?
Have you paid for it yet? If not, what’s stopping you?
What features do you actually use, and what don’t you care about?
These questions force users to give meaningful, specific answers instead of vague approval.
Learn What Users Aren’t Saying
The gaps in a user’s experience are often where the real gold lies. For example:
If users stop using your product, find out what they switched to and why.
If they’re using it in an unintended way, that’s a sign you might be solving a bigger problem you didn’t plan for.
Take Dropbox’s early days. Users started saving photos and videos—something Dropbox hadn’t expected. By observing user behavior, Dropbox realized they weren’t just a file-sharing service but a place for people to store memories. This insight helped them scale to millions of users.
Build Products People Recommend
Altman emphasizes a critical sign of success: If users love your product, they’ll tell others.
If no one’s recommending it, there’s a problem. Dig in and ask:
What would make this product “recommendable”?
Is it missing something that other tools have?
Does it solve the problem better, faster, or easier than alternatives?
Be Relentlessly Curious
Altman’s core message is simple: Don’t stop at the surface. Talking to users isn’t about feeling good—it’s about learning the uncomfortable truths that help you build a product people can’t live without.
For founders, this approach is the difference between creating something “fine” and building something great.
Watch Sam Altman:
Comments