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Ryan Hoover runs Startup Edition (it is one of our Top 100 Blogs). Ryan has a network of 45 entrepreneurs, founders, designers, hackers and professionals in the startup community who like to share their knowledge to help others in their startup and life.

Ryan taps them weekly asking a single question to the group on topics ranging from product, to marketing, to design and hiring. Those with the expertise and interest in the topic contribute by writing their response to the question on their own blog. Every Tuesday morning, the collection is distributed via an email digest. You can subscribe at StartupEdition.com.

Today’s topic is: How do you discover what people really want?

You may have a great idea for a new startup or product but how do you really know if anyone will care? Learn the tactics, methodologies, and mistakes made by other entrepreneurs in this week’s edition.

“Most startups fail because they don’t make something people want”

– Paul Graham (tweet this)

Stay in the building

Nathan Kontny – Founder, Draft

Brittnee needs to pick Brittnee’s dress. read more

Two Ground Rules for Getting People to Tell You What They Want

Nadia Eghbal – Co-Founder Feast

People will tell you all sorts of things about themselves if you just give them the right environment. read more

Getting Better at Making Something People Want

Ash Bhoopathy – Entrepreneur in Action, Sequoia Capital

Creating a shared team understanding of user’s needs is a monumental obstacle entrepreneurs face.Achieving this goal makes product development, content strategy, and customer acquisition 10x easier. read more

The $100 Test

Karen Catlin – Co-Founder, Femgineer

“My exploration of the intersections of leadership and parenting continues. This week, I write about applying the $100 test from software product development to parenting. read more

The Feedback Machine: How Do You Find Out What People Really Want?

Greg Meyer – Manager of Customer WOW, Desk

In the real world, you need to find the people who like (or love) your product and then understand how to find more people like them. read more

Sitting on the curb drinking a slurpee

Justin Jackson – PM, Industry Mailout; Host Product People

I remember visiting one of our user’s offices, and being blown away: a noisy cubicle farm, with outdated hardware and impossible deadlines. Those are your customers. They’re real human beings stuck in particular situations. They’re not thinking about how you chose Rails instead of Python, or flat design vs skeuomorphism. They’re just people with problems. read more

How we discover what gamers want at Duxter

Adam Lieb – CEO & Founder, Duxter

It is not easy to figure out what people want. Here are a few reasons just “asking” what they want doesn’t work. read more

Ask, Listen, Observe, Distill

Tom Moor – Co-Founder, Sqwiggle

How do you discover what people really want? At first glance the answer to this question might seem obvious, you just ask, right?! But the way you ask and how you process the feedback can make the difference between a terrible product and a runaway success. read more

Pain = Validation

Ryan Hoover – Director of Product, PlayHaven; Organizer, Startup Edition

Not all customer feedback is equal. The more pain, the better. read more

How Do You Discover What Customers Really Want?

“Most startups fail because they don’t make something people want”