Hello Innovator!

As innovators, it’s easy to find ourselves caught up in the business of what comes next. What new features should we build? What new product supports the existing revenue lines? How can we move upmarket faster to capture greater margins?

But in focusing on the business, we often lose sight of the people on the other side: the customers. Discovering opportunities for innovation doesn’t live in the spreadsheets and dashboards or the meeting rooms. To find those opportunities, you have to get out of the building and seek out your customer’s pains. This week, we discuss how to do just that.

Here’s what you’ll find:

• This Week’s Article: Opportunity is discovered in emotion.

• Case Study: Vistaly: How a customer support ticket became a roadmap.

Opportunity is Discovered in Emotion.

You won’t find innovation in a spreadsheet.
You’ll find it in the four-letter words: #$*&!!!

You’re dutifully watching the user’s every move. Every click.
Step by step through your 12-step onboarding flow.
They’re quiet. Focused. Polite.

Then, as Step 7 loads, they mutter…
“Oh, come on…more??”
“Seriously??”
“WTF 🙄”

There it is. That little moment screams opportunity. It shows up as friction. It’s usually small and annoying. And it’s always emotional.

People don’t buy products.

Not everyone will say this out loud, but it’s true.

Most products exist to reduce emotional pain.

You’re not hiring a budgeting tool because you love spreadsheets. You’re hiring it because you’re anxious about money and want to feel in control.

You’re not using a note-taking app because it has a better tag system. You’re using it because your brain feels cluttered, and you want clarity.

You’re not ordering takeout because the app has a slick mobile UI. You’re solving for exhaustion + hunger.

If you’re looking for opportunity, don’t start with utility. Start listening for those moments when people are frustrated, annoyed, or irate.

They buy pain relievers.

If you’ve read a few of our past editions, you’ve probably realized at this point that we’re talking about Jobs to be Done.

(Need to get caught up? Read this 👇)

The idea behind Jobs to be Done is pretty simple: people hire products to make their lives easier.

If you want to make people’s lives easier, you need to know what “easier” looks like. Or better yet, what it feels like to your customers…

• It feels like clarity in a moment of confusion.

• It feels like gaining control over something that was previously difficult.

• It feels like a weight lifting off their shoulders because something that was tedious and time consuming is now fast and easy.

It feels like that moment when the Advil finally kicks in and the headache dissipates.

If you’re mapping jobs and ignoring feelings, you’re just writing a spec. If you’re paying attention to emotion, you’re diagnosing the gap between how someone wants to feel and how they currently do.

The emotion IS the opportunity.

Stop Asking. Start Watching.

There’s an unspoken problem with most customer interviews: they’re polite. They’re performative. They’re staged.

“Tell us about your goals.”
“What would make this more useful?”
“On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely are you to recommend…”

And they’re biased.

“Would you like it better if it did…?”

None of that will reveal emotion. None of it will uncover frustration. If you want to find the real opportunity to innovate, solve a problem, or make someone’s life easier, watch them do their work.

Shadow them for an hour (or a day). Ask them to show you, not tell you, how they do the thing.

Then shut up and pay close attention.

The moment of discovery is in the workarounds. The awkward pauses. The sighs of resignation. The browser tab they open instead of yours.

Before you ever get the opportunity to validate an idea, you have to find the idea worth validating. And to do that, you have to uncover the pain points.

That pain is emotional. You’ll see it. You’ll hear it. But only if you’re in the room.

If you’re relying on dashboards and surveys, you’re not getting close enough to your customers.

Opportunity Lives in Friction. Not in Ideas.

Pain is never clean. It’s human. Messy. Frustrated. Slightly embarrassed.