What do you do if feedback in your startup contradicts each other?

When faced with contradictory feedback in your startup: 1. Assess the sources' expertise. 2. Look for common themes. 3. Stick to your core vision. 4. Test small changes based on feedback. 5. Seek advice from mentors or experts if needed. 6. Stay agile and be ready to adapt.

In a one-liner, Communicate openly about the process to resolve the contradictions. Meantime, the approach should aim in analyzing, prioritizing and deciding the goals to address the contradictory feedback. And most importantly, communicate the resolution process transparently.

What I have found helpful from observation is ; 1. Identify the sources and their roles or expertise. Feedback from customers or experienced advisors tends to carry more weight than colleagues without direct experience. 2. Look for patterns or common themes across the different perspectives. If multiple sources highlight a particular issue, it's likely worth prioritizing, even if other feedback contradicts it. 3. Understand the context and reasoning behind each piece of feedback. Was it based on incomplete information or personal biases? Feedback rooted in concrete data and aligned with our core goals deserves more consideration. 4. Prioritize feedback that best supports our startup's vision, target market, and long-term strategy.

When feedback in your startup contradicts each other, remember it is a step of opportunity for growth and learning. First thing to do is to listen to each piece of feedback with full attention and identify the common themes behind it. This will help build insights about your product/service for improvement. After that analyze the cause of the feedback and try to align it with your goals and vision. Upon prioritizing, start experimenting and run small tests to validate it. Embrace an iterative approach for product development and business strategy. Gradually converge on solutions that resonate with your target audience, and be transparent in communication about the feedbacks you receive.

> Consider the provider's experience and their perspective on your industry. > Are there underlying concerns both points address, even if phrased differently? > Use the feedback as data points, not ultimatums. Choose the path that best aligns with your vision and goals.

When feedback in your startup contradicts itself, ask each person to elaborate on their perspective by asking 10 or 20 times "why" to uncover the root reasoning behind their viewpoint. Delve deeper into the rationale until a logical explanation surfaces. The feedback with the most compelling and well-reasoned basis will ultimately guide the decision. This approach ensures that decisions are rooted in solid logic rather than mere opinion.

Basing your product on people's opinion is only okay if you don't have any other option :) People have NO clue what they really want or need and communication with them leads to huge interpretation errors. Also, you will find out that they change their minds way too often. If the creator of the car listened to people, he would never release it. Same goes for all other life changing innovations. So, whenever possible, go and A / B test whatever assumption you have. If people use a functionality, they like it. If they don't, they don't like it. It's as simple as 1 + 1. BTW: I'm definitely not saying that you don't need to be in touch with your clients. You should for thousand of other reasons.

What I generally do is to talk to all the parties involved to try to do a deep dive to really understand the topic, look for the points of agreement as well as key points of disagreement. After this is done and I have a proper understanding of the situation, we get all the parties around the same table and ask each party to summarize the situation as they see it, without interruptions. We then start looking for common ground and identify all the areas where we agree, and park/close those, and then slowly work through other areas - not so different from a classical negotiation where you look for consensus. The only difference is that there is only one boss, and when decision is reached and boss signs off, everybody needs to get onboard.

Engaging with the individuals who give the feedback can be huge! Asking them "why" can be huge for the growth of your company and the services/offerings. Why did they say what they said? Was it a misunderstanding? Was it an assumption or something that actually holds value? All things you can answer when engaging with the people who gave the feedback.

When analyzing feedback, consider not only the source but also where the source is in the buying journey. Is this feedback from customers or prospects? Do the prospects represent your ideal customer profile? A new potential market? Has the feedback brought up by confirmed customers impacted their likelihood to purchase or repurchase? One cohort is not preferred over another, but it's important that startups understand the context of all respondents so that they know how to achieve the highest ROI in applying the feedback.