Dogfooding, using your own company's products, is a long-standing principle in the tech industry, but it falls short of letting you experience real customers' frustrations
Large companies' customer service automated response systems tout technological innovation but fail to resolve real customer complaints
As in the anecdote of Jeff Bezos calling his own company's customer service and waiting over 10 minutes, the key is for C-level executives to experience the customer journey firsthand
In contrast, at one small startup, senior leadership personally called after a subscription was canceled, listened to the complaints, and admitted they were aware of the same problems
Dogfooding is not just using products internally; only by experiencing the inconveniences customers face and hearing their real anger and frustration firsthand can you drive improvements to products and services