Unscaled 5: Just the Right Amount of Personalization

Is personalization really the golden ticket that some product creators think it is? In the tech industry, it’s a widely-held opinion that personalization is the answer to everything, and that successful products must be custom-tailored to meet the unique needs of each user. But it’s difficult to think of really successful products that are hyper-personalized. The iPhone, for example, is more or less the same phone for every user. So is personalization actually important? And if so, to what degree?   Show notes Hemant Taneja’s book Unscaled: How AI and a New Generation of Upstarts are Creating the Economy of the Future (referral fees will be donated to charity) Hemant Taneja, managing director at General Catalyst Ronda Scott, marketing partner at General Catalyst   Is personalization just a Silicon Valley fetish? (2:11) Livongo provides chronic care management solutions for type 2 diabetes patients (2:57) Concept of personalized medicine (4:20) How to create boundaries for personalized groups (5:21) Optimizing for a demand-oriented product (6:10) There aren’t 7 billion types of diabetes (6:50) Comparison the music industry (8:30) “What is the right amount of personalization?” (9:35) Don’t underestimate the power of delight (10:14) Flocking to certain groups of people at the expense of others (11:07) What do users actually want? (12:56) Shift from a supply-based economics mindset of products to a demand-based one (13:44) Products with the right amount of personalization (14:49) Strava, an app for runners and cyclists to track their progress (15:07) Sectors where unscaling has been happening for a while, e.g. online shopping and video (16:30) Digit, an app that helps users save money (16:47) Wealthfront, an app for financial planning and investing (16:48)   We want to hear from you Please send us your comments, suggested topics, and listener questions for future All Turtles Podcast episodes. Season 2 is coming soon! Email: [email protected] Twitter: @allturtlesco with hashtag #askAT For more from All Turtles, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website.