1052 - Being Solution and Innovation-Focused with Thrv's Jay Haynes

Jan 24, 2022

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In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the founder and CEO of Thrv, Jay Haynes.

Thrv is an enterprise product management software application. In essence, they build software that helps teams build better products. They have some amazing customers, too – Microsoft, American Express, eBay, Twitter, and more.

Josh and Jay explore where Thrv fits in operationally for businesses – they are on the extreme front end of innovation. If you want to know what your customer wants, this is the route for you. There’s a ton of work this software can do to mitigate your risks when you begin the development of a product. Once you build this product, you’re spending money. You only earn revenue once the market starts to buy.

Jay shares that you really need to know about what your customer really wants – at the end of the day, they don’t necessarily love your widget, but they love what it does. Your products need to be solution-focused and actually solve a problem in the market.

Jay also talks about why certain endeavors fail when you’re copying competitors. The problem is that these companies often copy the products themselves, not what their competitors are doing. The problem with this logic is that it doesn’t account for innovation or actually seeking to improve upon a previous technological iteration. Don’t focus on what your competitors are doing – focus on what your customers need.

Jay shares that Thrv works with enterprises as well as small to medium sized businesses and start-ups. He says they want to work with teams that are innovation-focused and are going to be well integrated into your team and business. This will put your customer front and center. If you put the customer’s struggles first, it increases product development, which boosts sales. Everything you do should be to improve the customer experience.

At the end of the day, if you put your customers and the market first, you will see innovation take center stage. Josh shares an insight that he believes is tried and true; you aren’t smarter than the market. Future-proof and anticipate what your next solution needs to be. Assume your current solution will become irrelevant, so always plan for the next version of what you will bring to the market.

Jay shares that Thrv has plenty of resources on their website, including an ebook, blog, free demo, and more.

Check out Thrv’s ebook at https://www.thrv.com/app/

Check out Thrv at https://www.thrv.com/

Check out Jay Haynes on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayhaynes/.

Check out Thrv on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/thrv-com/.

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