The Instagram lesson

When Kevin Systrom built Burbn, he didn't systematically validate which problems users cared about most. He built what seemed like a logical feature set for a location-based social app: check-ins, plans, photos, and more. Only after launch, when the app stagnated at 100 users, did he and Mike Krieger analyze actual usage patterns.

What they discovered: users only cared about one thing: sharing photos with filters. Everything else was noise. By systematically analyzing customer behavior (their version of customer discovery), they identified the real problem worth solving: people wanted a simple, beautiful way to share visual moments on mobile.

They stripped away everything except photos, comments, and likes. Instagram launched and hit 1 million users in two months.

The lesson: Customer discovery prevents you from building features nobody wants and helps you identify the one thing that matters most.