Just as an angel investor provides initial capital for founders, an angel user provides early product feedback and support, often above and beyond what a regular customer would provide.
Angel Users can come in many forms, with varying levels of formality and responsibilities: ambassadors, affiliates, advocates, beta testers, community leads, evangelists… (to just start at the beginning of the alphabet)
The once-sharp line between employee and customer is dissolving. As the evolving Community movement has demonstrated, users can be a key function for growth, marketing, and product support. An angel user might mock up new features, moderate a forum, or even ship their own code. In the case of Farcaster, a technical protocol, angel users can be builders and founders themselves!
Angel users represent an opportunity for startups to learn and build more effectively.
In my earliest days as a User Researcher, I was shocked to learn how little companies were listening to the people using their products. I don’t subscribe to “the customer is always right”, but I do believe that teams are generally under-investing in users as a source of learning and ideation.
There is an art and science to “listening to users” (that’s the craft of user research). But I believe there is an under-explored discipline of working with the earliest adopters of your product.
There is a certain affinity that startups have with their early users. They are willing to experiment, take risks, and explore the problem space.
By the time a larger company is on to its Nth customers, both sides have more to lose, and there are fewer opportunities for meaningfully shaping the product vision.
My experiences as a researcher have made me a more enthusiastic and helpful user; I pride myself on giving helpful feedback. I love being able to share my experiences as a user and also help teams think more strategically about how they continue learning.
In the future, I hope to see more creative and structured ways for founders and angel users to work together. I have some ideas, but that's for another post :)
Mark Fishman
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