In this episode of the Next Gen Builders, Francois is joined by Hubert Palan, Founder & CEO of Productboard, the customer-driven product management tool, who shares how relentlessly focusing on customer pain points has helped them build a product that not only serves but delights its users.

When Hubert Palan founded Productboard, he had one goal: Help companies make better product decisions by understanding their customers on a deeper level. Now, with over 6,000 companies—like Zoom, Salesforce, and Toyota—using the product management platform, it’s clear that customer obsession is more than just a buzzword for Hubert and the Productboard team; it’s the driving force behind their business.

Throughout their conversation, you’ll hear about why customer obsession matters, the art of prioritizing customer feedback, and how AI enhances customer understanding. Hubert also dives into the lessons learned related to balancing customer feedback, prioritizing product roadmaps, and sometimes saying “no” to customers to best serve them.

—

Guest Bio

Hubert Palan is Founder and CEO of Productboard, the customer-centric product management platform that helps organizations get the right products to market, faster. Over 6,000 companies, including Toyota, Microsoft, Zoom, Volkswagen, and UiPath, use Productboard to understand what customers need, prioritize what to build next, and align everyone around their roadmap. The company has raised a total of $262M and is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices around the world.

Hubert received his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley and MSc. in Computer Science from Czech Technical University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife, Jenna, and their three kids.

—

Guest Quote

"For a company to be really customer-centric, everybody at the company needs to share that understanding of what is it that the people need. And that's where you really reach the goal of being customer obsessed as a company." – Hubert Palan

—

Time Stamps  

00:00 Episode Start

01:06 The origins of Productboard

03:09 How to make your company truly customer centric

05:25 Measuring the success of your efforts

10:56 The power of staying aligned to your roadmap

16:08 Tying your decision making directly to your users' feedback

18:48 Avoiding recency bias

21:56 Why you need to dedicate time to information sharing

27:37 Knowing when to listen

34:09 How AI will shape the Next Gen Builder

—

Links

• Connect with Hubert Palan on LinkedIn
• Check out Productboard
• Connect with Francois Ajenstat on LinkedIn
• Check out Amplitude