In 2016 I made a major product gamble.

Our startup was building a retail analytics product.

And, I fought HARD to include a strange feature…

You couldn’t do anything with it.

Zero analytics value.

It was just cool and interesting.
…
It was a US map covered with 1000s of tiny colored dots — one for each store.

Users pressed ‘PLAY’ and watched store statuses change over time.

It showed the real-time status of every store, every day.
…
My team (rightfully) argued: “No one can use this, its pointless”

“You’re right,” I said.

“But, customers need to SEE why we’re different.”

“No one in the industry has ever done this.”
…
Our CEO demoed the feature to a Fortune 100 exec we’d been pitching to for months.

The exec’s eyes lit up. “We need this.”

👉 This “vision feature” helped land a Fortune 100 contract.

…
Think about the role of “vision features” for your product.

Utility Features: Help customers perform a task
Vision Feature: Help customers see a different future

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