Customers, like founders, have a gap between their stated beliefs and actual behaviors. Instead of relying on discovery interviews, watch them work. Observing their actions reveals their true operating philosophy—what they genuinely value—which is a more reliable guide for product development than what they say.

To embed customer obsession, Hostinger automates scheduling so every employee, regardless of role, conducts several face-to-face interviews with customers per quarter. This non-scalable, direct interaction provides golden insights and ensures product development is grounded in real-world user needs across different global markets.

Customers describe an idealized version of their world in interviews. To understand their true problems and workflows, you must be physically present. This uncovers the crucial gap between their perception and day-to-day reality.

To truly understand customers, go to their natural environment—their home or shop. Observing their context reveals far more than sterile office interviews. This practice, internally branded "Listen or Die," ensures the entire team stays connected to the user's reality.

PMs who transition from other professions bring life skills that help them understand diverse perspectives. This real-world experience builds more empathy than academic product management programs, which primarily teach frameworks and a common language.

To build trust and deliver value, product managers cannot be 'tourists' who drop in on other departments transactionally. They must become 'locals'—deeply integrated, trusted partners who are regulars in cross-functional conversations and are seen as being 'in the battle' together with sales, marketing, and other teams.

It's not enough for platform PMs to interview their direct users (developers). To build truly enabling platforms, you must also gain wider context by sitting in on the developers' own customer interviews. This provides deep empathy for the entire value chain, leading to better platform decisions.

The only reliable way to understand a customer is to "forward deploy"—work alongside them in their actual environment. This direct experience of their job closes the context gap that interviews can't bridge, revealing unspoken needs and frustrations.

To build deep customer empathy, embed every new employee—regardless of role or seniority—with a real customer for several days. Their sole task is to solve one real problem, creating an immediate, visceral connection to the company's purpose.