Many founders wait for a breakthrough insight. One perfect piece of feedback to steer the ship. That's not how it works.
Breakthroughs come from patterns. Patterns come from data. Data comes from listening to prospects and customers, early, often, and with intention.
At Sense360, we ran bi-weekly calls with every customer. Not because we loved meetings, but because real signals only show up when you're listening often.
I remember three different customers mentioning small issues with our dashboard filters. Alone, they sounded like noise. Together, they revealed a real UX flaw.
That didn't happen because we were visionary. It happened because we had volume.
The Pattern Problem Most Teams Face
Here's what I see happening at most B2B companies: they treat customer feedback like lottery tickets. Wait for the big winner. That one conversation that changes everything.
But it doesn't work that way.
The most important insights emerge when you can see across conversations, not within them.
When Customer A mentions slow load times, Customer B complains about confusing navigation, and Customer C requests better filtering, individually, these are just complaints. Together, they're pointing to a systematic UX problem.
The challenge? Most teams can't see these patterns. Feedback gets trapped in CSM inboxes, scattered across tools, lost in weekly reviews.
By the time patterns become obvious, you're already behind.
Why Small Companies Win (And Big Ones Struggle)
When you're small, talking to every customer is natural. You hear everything. You spot patterns quickly. You act fast.
When you have 50+ customers spread across CSMs, product managers, and sales reps, those conversations become disconnected data points instead of intelligence.
This is exactly where most growing B2B companies hit the wall. They lose the customer understanding that drove their early success, but they haven't built systems to maintain that intelligence at scale.
The Real Solution
Talk to more customers. Listen more often.
But also—and this is the part most people miss—build the infrastructure to turn all those conversations into patterns you can actually see and act on.
The insights are there. You just have to hear them enough to know they're real.
Volume over vision. Every time.
