7 learnings while building Dolphin in 2024

36 million words analyzed, 350,000 feedback mentions, and 17,542 hours saved 🐬!

Thank you for being part our journey. Together we’re changing how companies consume customer insights, and giving CX the tools they need to drive actionable change based on real data.

We’re three weeks into January. Saying ‘happy new year’ feels like something from the past. And though 2025 is just getting started, we’re deep into the marathon. Best way to celebrate 2024? Sharing our learnings building Dolphin over the past few months. Let’s call it a Dolphin Wrapped 😉 (thanks Spotify):

• 36 million words analyzed 🔍 = The same as 36 times all Harry Potter books combined!

• 350,851 mentions identified ⚡️ = That’s thousands of customers getting their feedback heard and actioned.

• 17,542 hours saved ⏳ = Or 730 days (two full years of work)!

• Shipped 170 features and improvements = Way too many flat whites ☕️.

• Built a product used by incredible companies such as SeedLegals, AirDNA, and the UK Government (DESNZ).

And we’re just getting started.

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And in terms of learnings:

1. Simplicity wins:

   Solving hard problems is exciting. But more than usual, the solution to those problems - especially from a product perspective - is going with the simplest option or version. What’s the catch? Solving a hard problem in a simple way is extremely hard to achieve. That’s what makes it magical.

2. Obsess on customer feedback:

   This one should be skipped as it’s almost part of the DNA of tech companies. But given that we’re building a customer feedback tool, I thought it was important to add: It’s never enough how much you talk to your customers. You can always learn more from them. Their feedback unlocks signals that help lead to those ‘aha’ moments. And though you should keep to your own product decisions, obsessing over their feedback is an under-utilised superpower.

3. Speed of iteration = Product Quality:

   I read once that compound is the key of life. I had no idea what “compounding” was until getting into startups. This applies to studying, finance, growth, and of course, to building quality products. Last year we shipped 170 features and improvements. That speed of iteration produces velocity, which in turn produces quality. It’s never a point in time. It’s maintaining those points over time.

4. Rest, Train, Build:

   You’ve heard it before, building a startup is one of the hardest things you can do in life. We’ve taken on our shoulders the responsibility of our customers’ users feedback. That’s a big weight to carry. Resting is equally important to keeping physically strong to build a world-class product. I genuinely feel you need a similar mindset to athletes to do this.

5. You can learn a lot about a niche in a short amount of time:

   You can learn a lot about one small thing very quickly, if you focus on it for a continuous amount of time and really care about it. And you need to learn a lot about it if you want to build something that can move the world one day.

6. No feature creep
   It’s so hard to not get carried away by adding more and more stuff to a product or feature you’re about to release. We fight against this, and against ourselves by no letting Feature Creep take over what was planned. We time box it and feature box it. Just ship it. → Again back to point #1.

7. Find and treasure your rituals:

   We don’t have many. But the ones we have, help mark our pace. Our pace for development. Our pace for communication. Our pace for learning from each other. Our pace as a company.

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If you’ve used, or even considered using Dolphin, I celebrate you. You’re our WHY. Trying to understand your customers’ needs, and their own whys, is a hard task to accomplish. Using that data to validate your assumptions, and build better products, is next level.

Carrying the customer voice in your company impacts both the bottom line, and their experience. It’s a two sided coin. And you’ve helped improved both of these, through that feedback 👏.

From London to San Francisco, 2024 was fantastic. To those advocating for your customers, we can’t wait to empower all of you with more customer insights through Dolphin.

2025, we’re ready for you. 🐬