On this season of Help Scout’s Supportive Podcast, I talked to founders of customer-centric businesses about their early days, how much they learned from those first customers, and how they have worked to stay close to them as they’ve grown.

Although they represent several very different industries, some clear patterns emerged in our conversations. If you haven’t had a chance yet to hear their stories, take 20 minutes to catch up in this season wrap-up video.

If 20 minutes is more investment than you’re willing to put into my face, I can’t blame you… I have days like that too. So here are 5 themes from this season that will apply to any customer-centric business.

Theme 1: Be your own customer

Whether you eat your own dogfood, drink your own champagne, or just plain solve your own problems, the impact is the same. When you are your own customer, you have a head start on really grasping the job to be done, and on explaining that to prospective paying customers. All seven companies featured in this season began by solving their own problems. 

Can you build something to solve a problem you don’t have? Of course! But you’re making your life harder. 

Get specific insights from:

Theme 2: Stay close to your customers 

When you only have a few, it’s easy to be “customer obsessed”. Each customer is vital and you can know them all. As more customers arise, and the job of a founder becomes more diverse, it becomes more difficult to maintain. 

This season’s guests described the ways they stay close to their customers through techniques including help desk support shifts, empowering support teams, and hiring choices.  

Hear details from:

Theme 3: Values that drive actions

Corporate values are mere words unless they inspire—or constrain—business actions. Todd Curtis described YNAB’s decision to not charge someone automatically at the end of their trial as both consistent with their values, and a smart business decision.

Wistia turned down VC money to protect its hard-won culture. How are your business values put into action?

Hear more in:

Theme 4: Growth, but not at all costs

Young Henrys doesn't need to sell to every beer drinker in Australia, and that’s a good thing. It allows them to make more specific, more impactful choices for their particular set of customers. 

Deliberate, thoughtful growth allowed all seven businesses to expand their customer base without losing their way. 

Cautious growth stories from:

Theme 5: Listening to support signals

Customer support is not just questions coming in and answers going out. This season’s founders treat their support queues as a live feed of intelligence — how their customers think about the market and the product, about confusion and issues, about unmet needs. Support is not a defensive wall, it is an information exchange. 

Listening to customers:

Subscribe now and catch up before season 3

Find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or paste this RSS feed into any podcast player. There are plenty of episodes to keep you busy!

In season 3 I’m going back to the frontlines, talking to customer support pros about their chosen topics from The Supportive Weekly, and how they think about their work. I’ll meet you in the podcast queue.

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Mathew Patterson
Mathew Patterson

After running a support team for years, Mat joined Help Scout, where he helps people deliver better online customer support. Subscribe to The Supportive Newsletter or find him on LinkedIn.