There is a version of customer pioneering that starts before a business exists, one that creates a whole new approach rather than changing an existing one. It’s often triggered by a founder-to-be experiencing a need that no one seems to be meeting. Instead of moaning about what happened and wondering why someone doesn’t do something about it, they decide to tackle it. Will Shu did it with Deliveroo in a high-profile way. Martha Silcott is doing it with fablittlebag. And at the turn of the millennium, Justine Roberts did it too, with Mumsnet.
It’s a source of personal burningness, the fuel we found to be essential in creating a successful customer-led organisation. And with the Mumsnet story Roberts experienced burningness three times over - as a customer, as a woman in business and as Mumsnet’s co-founder.
