Why UX & Design Matter

UX=User Experience or Usability is one of the most important factors in technology adoption. 

So many technologists focus on early adopters who are strongly technical so they tend to care less about the design or usability. 

This is the edge for startups whether consumer or B2B SMB/Enterprise. It’s something I don't think founders think or care about enough. If you look at older established software companies ie. Salesforce, Oracle, SAP. Awful, godawful UX. The more established a company, the harder it is to change the product. They are completely locked in. 

And it’s almost impossible to fix as: 

1) they have an established customer base used to this and there is risk of destabilizing their business 

2) They have to do a complete rework of systems/ back end technology infrastructure etc. which is really hard for big company that is publicly traded (or about to go Public as Who wants to take the risk)

3) Plain politics & complacency internally (why change what is working?). 

If you look at Crypto, one of the biggest issues of adoption is that it is just not easy to use. Muggles like me just find it hard. While Crypto purists will hate on Coinbase & Robinhood, I would argue these two players are driving most of the new mainstream consumer adoption and growing like crazy as a consequence. The main reason these companies have done well is because they make it so damn easy to use. Kind of like what eTrade did for buying and trading stocks online 20 years ago. 

So startup founders, anytime you are looking at why your tech is not being adopted. Pay close attention to your UX and fix it. Yes, I might be over simplifying things here but this is a trap many strong technical founders fall into. And it is so common that I am continually surprised that more people do not talk about this. 

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