Superhuman's secret to success: Ignoring most customer feedback, manually onboarding every new user, obsessing over every detail, and positioning around a single attribute: speed | Rahul Vohra (CEO)
Rahul Vohra is the founder and CEO of Superhuman. Prior to Superhuman, Rahul founded Rapportive, the first Gmail plug-in to scale to millions of users, which he sold to LinkedIn in 2012. He is also a prominent angel investor, and his fund has invested $50 million in over 120 companies, including Placer, Supabase, Mercury, Zip, ClassDojo, and Writer.What youāll learn:ā¢ The unexpected insight about virality Rahul gained from LinkedInās head of growth.ā¢ Why Rahul restructured his entire executive team to spend 60% to 70% of his time on product, design, and marketing instead of the typical CEO responsibilities.ā¢ The counterintuitive approach to finding product-market fit using a methodical system inspired by Sean Ellis, and how this algorithmically determines your roadmap.ā¢ How manually onboarding every user (Superhuman had 20 full-time people doing this at peak) created superfans and allowed engineers to focus on product rather than onboarding flows.ā¢ The āSingle Decisive Reasonā framework for making better decisions by avoiding collections of weak justifications.ā¢ How Superhumanās AI features have evolved to create a truly intelligent email experience that works while you sleep.āBrought to you by:ā¢ EppoāRun reliable, impactful experimentsā¢ Fundrise Flagship FundāInvest in $1.1 billion of real estateā¢ OneSchemaāImport CSV data 10x fasterāFind the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/superhumans-secret-to-success-rahul-vohraāWhere to find Rahul Vohra:ā¢ X: https://x.com/rahulvohraā¢ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulvohra/ā¢ Email:
[email protected]āWhere to find Lenny:ā¢ Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.comā¢ X: https://twitter.com/lennysanā¢ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/āIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Rahul and Superhuman(05:00) The most pivotal moment in Rahul's career(07:01) The secret to virality(11:02) Superhumanās product evolution and core values(13:32) Overcoming slowdowns at scale(18:06) Time management and meditation(27:35) The role of a president(30:56) Attention to detail(43:00) Finding your unique position(47:32) The power of manual onboarding(52:37) Mastering product-market fit(59:33) Game design in business software(01:05:35) Contrarian pricing strategies(01:09:29) Leveraging AI(01:15:40) Transitioning to enterprise solutions(01:19:08) The Single Decisive Reason framework(01:22:32) Conclusion and final thoughtsāReferenced:ā¢ Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/ā¢ Rapportive: https://techcrunch.com/2012/02/22/rapportive-linkedin-acquisition/ā¢ Elliot Shmukler on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eshmu/ā¢ What Are āWhalesā in Video Games: https://gamerant.com/video-games-whales-concept-term-explained/ā¢ Figma: https://www.figma.com/ā¢ Notion: https://www.notion.com/ā¢ Loom: https://www.loom.com/ā¢ How to use Team Comments to reimagine email collaboration: https://blog.superhuman.com/how-to-use-team-comments-to-reimagine-email-collaboration/ā¢ Rajiv Ayyangarās post on X about Superhuman: https://x.com/rajivayyangar/status/1816176308130570385ā¢ Transcendental Meditation: https://www.tm.org/ā¢ Laurent Valosek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurent-valosek-18708b5a/ā¢ Peak Leadership Institute: https://www.peakleadershipinstitute.com/ā¢ Ed Simās website: https://edsim.net/ā¢ Adelle Sans: https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/adelle-sansā¢ Comic Sans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Sansā¢ Greenfield project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenfield_projectā¢ Why Mailbox died: https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9873268/why-dropbox-mailbox-shutdownā¢ Bill Trenchard on X: https://x.com/btrenchardā¢ How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product-Market Fit: https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/ā¢ Using the Sean Ellis Test for Measuring Your Product-Market Fit: https://medium.productcoalition.com/using-sean-ellis-test-for-measuring-your-product-market-fit-c8ac98053c2cā¢ Sean Ellis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanellis/ā¢ The original growth hacker reveals his secrets | Sean Ellis (author of āHacking Growthā): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-original-growth-hacker-sean-ellisā¢ The Trouble with Rewards: https://www.kornferry.com/insights/briefings-magazine/issue-13/519-the-trouble-with-rewardsā¢ The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavanā¢ āVan Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Westendorp%27s_Price_Sensitivity_Meterā¢ AI-powered email for high-performing teams: https://superhuman.com/aiā¢ Linearās secret to building beloved B2B products | Nan Yu (Head of Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linears-secret-to-building-beloved-b2b-products-nan-yuā¢ Single Decisive Reason: decision-making for fast-scaling startups: https://blog.superhuman.com/single-decisive-reason-decision-making-for-fast-scaling-startups/ā¢ Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/āRecommended books:ā¢ Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586ā¢ Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867āProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email
[email protected].āLenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe