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What is an Angel User?
Just as an angel investor provides initial capital for founders, an angel user provides early product feedback and support, often above and beyond what a regular customer would provide.
Angel Users can come in many forms, with varying levels of formality and responsibilities: ambassadors, affiliates, advocates, beta testers, community leads, evangelists… (to just start at the beginning of the alphabet)
The once-sharp line between employee and customer is dissolving. As the evolving Community movement has demonstrated, users can be a key function for growth, marketing, and product support. An angel user might mock up new features, moderate a forum, or even ship their own code. In the case of Farcaster, a technical protocol, angel users can be builders and founders themselves!
An evolution of User Research
Angel users represent an opportunity for startups to learn and build more effectively.
In my earliest days as a User Researcher, I was shocked to learn how little companies were listening to the people using their products. I don’t subscribe to “the customer is always right”, but I do believe that teams are generally under-investing in users as a source of learning and ideation.
There is an art and science to “listening to users” (that’s the craft of user research). But I believe there is an under-explored discipline of working with the earliest adopters of your product.
There is a certain affinity that startups have with their early users. They are willing to experiment, take risks, and explore the problem space.
By the time a larger company is on to its Nth customers, both sides have more to lose, and there are fewer opportunities for meaningfully shaping the product vision.
My experiences as a researcher have made me a more enthusiastic and helpful user; I pride myself on giving helpful feedback. I love being able to share my experiences as a user and also help teams think more strategically about how they continue learning.
In the future, I hope to see more creative and structured ways for founders and angel users to work together. I have some ideas, but that's for another post :)
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