Startups that grow fast don’t just launch—they learn. And the fastest learning happens not in isolation, but in collaboration with your earliest users.
It’s a mistake many founders make: build in a vacuum, polish in private, then release something into the world and hope it sticks. But hope isn’t a strategy. Especially when you’re trying to find product-market fit before the runway runs out.
The smarter move? Co-create with your early adopters.
These are the people who feel the problem most acutely. They’re motivated, vocal, and willing to engage—if you let them in. Treating them like collaborators rather than consumers can radically accelerate your path to traction.
Why co-creation is your fastest route to fit
When you build with early adopters, you’re not just collecting feedback—you’re embedding signal into your product from day one. These users:
Help you validate what matters and what doesn’t
Surface edge cases and workarounds before launch
Offer a direct line to demand—if they help shape it, they’re more likely to use it
More importantly, they challenge your assumptions. Instead of guessing what to prioritise, you get real-time input grounded in experience.
How to identify and engage your early adopters
Start with people who are already searching for a solution. You’ll find them in:
Niche subreddits and Slack groups
LinkedIn posts and comment threads
Review sections of competitor products
Don’t pitch. Start conversations. Ask what they’re struggling with. Ask what’s missing from current solutions. If they light up when describing the problem, you’ve found your people.
Once you have a handful of them, keep the loop tight. Share prototypes, early builds, and workflows. Let them see their fingerprints on the product as it evolves.
Make it real: structure your feedback loop
Co-creation isn’t a one-off request for input. It’s an ongoing cycle. Here’s how you can structure it:
Kick off with discovery calls: Learn how they currently solve the problem.
Show lo-fi prototypes: Use Figma or Whimsical to test concepts before code.
Share progress regularly: Keep them in the loop with Notion or Loom updates.
Run user tests: Use Maze or Useberry to get behavioural data.
Close the loop: Acknowledge their input and show how it shaped decisions.
The more they feel heard, the more they’ll contribute—and advocate.
A real-world example from Mindora
At Mindora, we didn’t build and hope. We spent six months working directly with HR leaders in stealth, running workshops and mapping workflows around employee wellbeing.
Rather than pitch a product, we co-created every layer of it—from onboarding flows to dashboard logic. When it was time to launch, our first users didn’t need convincing. They were already invested.
The result? We saw immediate traction and high engagement from day one. Because it wasn’t just our product—it was theirs, too.
Final thought
Co-creation isn’t just a UX tactic. It’s a growth strategy.
Your earliest users can be your sharpest critics, strongest advocates, and clearest signal of what to build next. Founders who build in the open—with real users shaping the roadmap—ship better products, faster.
If you want adoption on day one, don’t just ask for feedback after launch. Involve your users before it.
Because in the new startup playbook, growth begins before you go live.
