On The Pour, customer success leader Chris Lindinger and James Koran on how to decide what to build: stop chasing feature requests and start solving outcomes.
Welcome back to The Pour, the show where we sit down with the founders, marketers, and innovators we work with, ask one big question, and answer it before the coffee runs out.
In this episode, Moxie Labs co-founder James Koran is joined by Chris Lindinger, who has spent the better part of his career on the client service and customer success side of tech, leading teams at Tonic Design, Stuzo, and Rovertown.
The timing isn’t an accident. Moxie launched FNGRFOOD earlier this year and the feature requests are already pouring in from every direction. Add a roadmap that’s full and development time that’s finite, and you land on the one question every product team eventually has to answer: how do you decide what to build next?
Chris’s answer starts by changing the question. The request in front of you ("we need guest ordering, ASAP") is rarely the real thing. Underneath it is an outcome someone is trying to reach, and until you understand that outcome, you’re just building to a spec instead of solving a problem.
"A client will come asking for a certain thing. And we’d go: well, what’s the business goal that thing is supposed to achieve? Why does it matter to you?”
From there it gets more interesting. James and Chris dig into how to actually reset the conversation with a customer who is convinced they just need the feature, why the goals that matter aren’t only the company’s, and how the market itself starts telling you what to build once you know how to listen.
We won’t give away the whole playbook here. That’s what the episode is for.
Pour a cup and watch the full conversation on The Pour.
Connect with Chris Lindinger on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going.
One cup of coffee. One big question. That’s The Pour. See you on the next episode.
